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The Protectionist Interests of the German Iron and Steel Industry, 1873-1879

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2011

Ivo N. Lambi
Ivo N. Lambi
Affiliation:
University of Saskatchewan
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Extract

The year 1873 marked the zenith of the German free-trade movement, which had been gathering impact since 1818 when Prussia first established a tariff along free-trading lines. Promulgated at the peak of prosperity, the law of 1873 abolished immediately the duties on pig iron, raw steel, and ships, but, as a concession to the protectionists, only reduced the rates on other iron products and provided for their repeal on January 1, 1877. Despite the dissatisfaction of many free-traders, the latter provision opened the door for the repeal of other protective rates. Germany thus stood at the threshold of complete free trade.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , March 1962 , pp. 59 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1962

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References

1 Stenographische Bcrichtc des deutschen Reichstags, 1873, p. 1289 ffGoogle Scholar.

2 The French litres d'acquit a caution were certificates entitling manufacturers who had imported pig iron from abroad to be reimbursed the duty they had paid if this iron was reexported in further processed form. In effect, the titrcs served as export premiums since importers freely sold their claims for compensation to the exporters of further processed articles when diey were not interested in export themselves.

3 See the petitions of the Union of the German Iron and Steel Manufacturers (Verein deutscher Eisen und Stahlindustrieller) of October 1875, to the Reichstag; the petition of October 24, 1875 to the Bundesrat; and the petition to the Prussian minister of war, October 28, 1875. These documents are available in the Bundesarchiv, Koblenz, Reichsakten 13, I, Akten des Vereins deutscher Eisen und Stahlindustrieller, Fasc. 276 (henceforth abbreviated B.A. R 13, I, No. of Fascicle).

4 Verein zttr Wahrung dcr gemeinsamen wirtschajtlichen Interessen von Rheinland-Westjden.

5 Centralverband deutscher Industrieller.

6 Report of Dr. Rentzsch before the general assembly of the Union of the German Iron and Steel Manufacturers, November 16, 1876, B.A. R 13, I, 274.

7 Lowe to Baare, August 11, 1875, ibid., 276.

8 Protokpll-Auszug der Generalversammlung der nordwestlichen Cruppe, 09 18, 1875Google Scholar, ibid.

9 Löwe explicitly warned the Union about the danger of becoming a member of so outspokenly a protectionist organization. See Baare's letter to Rentzsch, December 9, 1875, ibid., 278; also Protokpll der Vorstands-Sitzung des Vereins, 05 I, 1876Google Scholar, ibid.

10 For the negotiations concerning attendance at the Congress of German Economists in Munich and co-operation there with the cotton manufacturers, see Protokpll-Auszug der Vorstands-Sitzung, 08 11, 1875Google Scholar ; also Baare's letters to Rentzsch, August 10 and 15, 1875, ibid.; and the Bericht iiber die Verhandlung des XVI Kongresses deutscher Volkswirthe in Miinchen am 1., 2., und 3. 12, 1875 (Berlin, 1876), pp. 149–98Google Scholar.

11 Baare to Rentzsch, November 27, 1875, B.A. R 13, I, 278.

12 See Büeck, H. A., Centralverband deutscher Industrieller, 1876-1901 (3 vols.; Berlin, 1901), I, 34–36Google Scholar . This work is a collection of documents, comprising speeches, resolutions, and proclamations, supplemented by the author's comments. Since the archives of the Central Association of German Manufacturers have disappeared and its published papers, the Verhand-lunge, Mittleilunge des Centralverbandes deutscher Industrieller, before 1879, available only in the University of Cologne library, are fragmentary, Biieck's book remains the most important source for the activity of the Central Association before 1879.

13 Büeck to Rentzsch, July 1, 1877; Servaes to Rentzsch, October 19, 1876, B.A. R 13, I, 273.

14 The representatives of the cotton-spinning interests had approved of the iron masters' wish for the reintroduction of the pig iron duty at the meeting of the executive committee of the Central Association on May 6, 1876. protokoll der Versammlung des Centralverbandes-Ausschusses, Leipzig, 05 5-6, 1876Google Scholar . Copy of this document in the Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Miinchen, Ministeritim des Handels M.H. 11455, Die Erneuerung und den Abschluss von Zoll-und Handels-Vertrage mit dem Auslande Betreffend, 1876-1900, Conv. I. For the decision of the Silesian group, see the Circular to the members of the Eastern Group of the Union, July 8, 1876, B.A. R 13, I, 278; and for the attitude of the Union toward the Central Association consult Vorstandsshzung des Vereins, October 2, 1876, ibid., 273.

15 Auszug aus dem Protokpll der erweiterten Vorstandssitzung der nord-deutschen Gruppe, 07 17, 1876Google Scholar , B.A. R 13, I, 273. For the objections of the other regional groups, see Protokpll-Auszug der II ordentlichen Generalversammlung der siid-deutschen Gruppe, 08 20, 1876Google Scholar ; II ordentliche Generalversammlung der siid-west deutschen Gruppe, 09, 1876Google Scholar , ibid.

16 Stcnographische Protokplle der Vernehmungen der Eisenenqucte-Kommission, 1878/1879, Drucksachcn des Bundesraths, 1878/1879, No. 24, pp. 66–81Google Scholar.

17 For these plants, see ibid., pp. 1-17, 365-410, 803-20.

18 For the Silesian plants, consult ibid., pp. 431-49, 507-9, 727-29.

19 Vorstandssitzung des Vereins, 01 26, 1877, B.A. R 13, I, 274Google Scholar.

20 V'orstandssitzung des Vereins, December 13, 1877, ibid., 272. The rates on products other than pig iron, as proposed by the Rhenish-Westphalian group, ranged from 20 marks for bar-iron and steel to 600 marks per ton for finished products. The executive council of the Union approved this draft with some modifications, one of which was the increase of the maximum rates for fine iron products to 2400 marks. These rates were then approved by the other industries represented in the Central Association of German Manufacturers. See Revidiertes Entwurf eines autonomen Zolltarifs fur das Deutsche Reich. Im Auftrage und auf Grund der Berathungen und Beschlusses des Centralverbandes … ausgegeben von Dr. Hermann Grothe und C. F. Beutner. Heft No. 6. der Verhandlungcn, Mitteilungen des Centralverbandes deutscher Industrieller. Adopted on February 22, 1878.

21 Büeck's circular to the members of the Union, January 20, 1879; and Auszug aus dem Protokpll der Vorstandssitzung, January 25, 1879, B.A. R 13, I, 272.

22 , Tenge of the Verein deutscher Eisengiessereien to Rentzsch, 03 9, 1879Google Scholar , ibid.

23 Kemp to Rentzsch, March 21, 1879; Rentzsch's reply, March 23, ibid.

24 Circular of Rentzsch to Massenez, Liieg, and Baare, March 31, 1879, ibid.

25 Thyssen & Co., Eisenwalzwerk, to the executive of the Union of the German Iron and Steel Manufacturers, March 23, 1877. Ibid., 274.

26 On June 15, 1877, the extraordinary general assembly of the Union, attended by 145 members, unanimously resolved: “The Central Assembly of the Union of the German Iron and Steel Manufacturers wholeheartedly adheres to the endeavours towards the establishment of a general investigation as proposed by the Central Association of German Manufacturers…” Circular of Rentzsch to the members of the Union, July 4, 1877, ibid.

27 Vorstctndssitzung des Vereins, January 28, 1877, ibid.

28 Vorstandssitzung des Vereins, April 13, 1877, ibid.

29 For the formation of the agrarian-industrial protectionist front and the attitude of the government towards protection, see Lambi, Ivo N., “The Agrarian-Industrial Front in Bis-marckian Politics, 1873-1879,” Journal of Central European Affairs, XX, No. 4 (01 1961), 378–96Google Scholar.

30 Dankaddresse der nordwestlichen Gruppe an … Bismarck., 12 26, 1878Google Scholar , and Servaes' letter to Rentzsch, January I, 1879, B.A. R 13, I, 274.

31 Rentzsch to Massenez, March 18, 1879, ibid., 272.

32 For the negotiations between the agrarians and the industrialists just before the opening of the discussion on the tariff in the Reichstag in May, 1879, there is some material in Bueck's Centralverband deutscher lndustrieller. For the agrarian side, see Croner, J., Geschichte der agrarischen Bewegung in Deutschland (Berlin, 1907)Google Scholar , the Berichte iiber die Verhandlungen des Congresses deutscher Landwirthe, February, 1879, and Berichte Über die Verhandlungen der Vereinigung der Steuer und Wirtschaftsreformer zu Berlin, IV, 1879.

33 See especially Rentzsch's report to Lueg, May 13, 1879, B.A. R 13, I, 272.

34 Reported in the Hamburgische Correspondenz, May 17, 1879.

35 Stenographische Berichte des deutschen Reichstags, 1879, pp. 1269-71Google Scholar.

36 Ibid., pp. 2280-90. A previous bill for the increase of the rye duty, proposed by Mirbach, had been rejected on May 23 by a vote of 173 to 161.