Are we ruined by the Germans?

by Harold Cox

Our Entrepôt Trade and our Home Trade.

In Millions Sterling.

	1881	1882	1883	1884	1885	1886	1887	1888	1889	1890	1891	1892	1893	1894	1895
Re-exports of Imported Goods	63	65	66	63	58	56	59	64	67	65	62	65	59	58	60
Exports of Home Produce	234	242	240	233	213	213	222	235	249	264	247	227	218	216	226
Total Exports	297	307	306	296	271	269	281	299	316	329	309	292	277	274	286

There is not much to grumble at in these figures. Our entrepôt trade, which was supposed to be slipping away, seems somewhat to halt in the process, in spite of the notorious and not entirely unpleasing fact that our Colonies are now doing a larger direct trade with foreign countries than ever before. At the same time the figures for the exports of our own goods are most satisfactory if we take into account the lower range of prices at which our manufacturers are now working. Altogether there is nothing in the general figures of our trade to justify the wild statements that “dry rot” has set in, and that “the industrial glory of England is departing.”

CHAPTER II.
Germany: One of Our Best Customers.

In the previous chapter it was shown that the general figures of our import and export trade gave no indication of the ruin of our commerce either by Germans or by anybody else. In the present chapter it is proposed to show that though Germany is among the keenest of our trade competitors, she is also one of our best customers. For a sufficient indication of the truth of this proposition we have only to turn to the annual statement of the trade of the United Kingdom. It is true that the figures there published are not entirely satisfactory, because much of the trade of Germany is shipped from Dutch or Belgian ports, and credited to Holland and Belgium respectively. But this is probably also true, and to about the same extent, of British goods destined for Germany, and travelling viâ Belgium or Holland, so that in comparing imports and exports this factor may be neglected. The same cause of error will probably be also present to the same extent in successive years, so that we can ignore it when comparing one year with another. Purely for comparative purposes then the annexed table, and the diagram illustrating it, are sufficiently accurate, although the actual figures for any one year by itself have, for the reasons given, little positive value.

Our Total Trade with German Ports.

In Millions Sterling.

	1886	1887	1888	1889	1890	1891	1892	1893	1894	1895
Imports from Germany	21·4	24·6	26·7	27·1	26·1	27·0	25·7	26·4	26·9	27·0
Exports to Germany	26·4	27·2	27·4	31·3	30·5	29·9	29·6	28·0	29·2	32·7

These figures may be illustrated diagrammatically as follows:—