Count von Billow, possibly dreading the fate of Conni Caprivi
in 1894, has capitulated to the Agrarians. In his
maiden speech to the Diet on January 9th, he declared his eonviction that Prussian agriculture needed powerful support. Encouraged but not satisfied by this general declaration, the Conservatives brought forward a Resolution last Saturday urging the Government to enhance the duties on foreign grain, and elicited a statement from the Imperial Chancellor to the effect that the Prussian Government was "resolved to obtain adequate protection for agricultural produce by means of the customs duties, which must be raised to an extent calculated to attain that object." Even this categorical declaration is pronounced too vague by some of the Agrarian organs, but in the main the Conservatives and Clericals profess themselves well content. Though the Motion was carried by the large majority of 238 votes to 43, the balance of argument was all on the side of the Radicals, who pointed out, firstly, that high protective duties would not benefit the agricultural labourers but only the landowners; secondly, that if the wages of the industrial classes sere raised by an increase in the price of provisions, which was by no means certain, the cost of producing manufactured articles would inevitably rise as well, and so damage German ex- port trade and lessen the number of employes; lastly, that enhanced grain-duties would enormously increase the diffi- culties of negotiating commercial treaties with Russia and America, and might lead to a tariff war with those countries. One wonders whether the Agrarians, who are not credited with great affection for England, fully realise how they are playing the game of the English manufacturer.
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