WHY GERMANY FLOURISHES AS A MANU- FACTURING NATION. [To THE
EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR,—The questioning of our present fiscal system to which Mr. Chamberlain has recently given expression threatens to become of the most vital political importance. Already there are signs that on this subject party ties will once more be subjected to severe strain, and may in the end be broken. It is, therefore, of the utmost moment that this weighty question should be received with as clear a vision as can be brought to bear on it, and that every fact which has any relation to it should be recognised. . The question is not nearly so simple as it looks, and in the discussions of it which have appeared in the Press there is one fact which I have not seen mentioned, and to which it seems desirable to direct attention. It is stated that of late years Germany's exports have increased at a much greater ratio than those of this country. This has invariably been put down to the Protective tariff which is in force there. But is it really due to this ? Those who have studied the question tell us that in many industries Germany's success in capturing foreign markets is largely, if not solely, due to the care which she bestows on the training of her manufacturers, and to the amount of money she is willing to spend on scientific work bearing on her manufactures. In this country there is as yet a lamentable absence of any systematic effort in the same direction, though there are signs that the recognition of the necessity for this effort is becoming more prevalent. In Germany the chemical and glass industries, to cite only two examples, have for many years been the subject of elaborate experimental research by many trained scientific men; and to-day she is reaping the fruit of this work in all the markets of the world. And this has absolutely no con- nection with her Protective tariff. It is due solely to the intelligence and patient work of her manufacturers. The same is true of many other of her industries, and to a large extent of many of those in America. It is not too much to say that if half the money spent on advertising by manu- facturers in this country were devoted to rigorous scientific work in connection with their trade, they would reap a many times larger. harvest from their money than they do at present, or than any Protective system is likely to give them. It is to be hoped that the facts stated will not be lost sight of in the discussion of such a large and intricate question as that now before us. If this discussion, which no doubt will interest every thinking man in the country; were to rouse us to a just sense of our present shortcomings, it would do an infinite
amount of good.—I am, Sir, &c., J. M.
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