In the first of the plates which the author gives (see Plates I–VI), the effect of the rise in prices is distinctly seen in the period 1849–1855. The fall that follows is also accompanied by a diminution in the number of crimes. When, at the close of 1858, the price of rye and potatoes begins to rise again, criminality also increases, though not so much. We do not see this agreement during the years 1861–1865. While prices rise in 1866, criminality declines as a consequence of the war with Austria, and of economic events.
The years 1870–1871, during which prices rose, show a fall in the figures for crime, a second exception to the rule therefore, since 1866. At the close of 1875 criminality increased greatly, although prices rose but little, and when, in 1877, prices begin to come down, the curve for criminality goes on rising. As for the years 1870–1871, the explanation is to be found in the war, which strengthened the feeling of solidarity (as in a less degree in 1866). Further, the development of manufacturing had already begun by the end of the war, and the war itself withdrew from ordinary life many persons who, without it, might have committed crime. The author mentions also the great diminution of crime in France during these years.
We note, however, that the French statisticians (Lafargue, for example) consider these years as of little importance in the study of criminality, since the police and the courts were then much less active than at ordinary times. The same causes may be supposed to have been active in Prussia also, though in a less degree than in France.
At the close of the middle of this century manufacturing was but slightly developed in Prussia. But after the war its development assumed gigantic proportions. Wealth increased, but was not evenly distributed, as the following table from the income tax returns shows:
| Persons. | Percentage. | ||||
| I. | Having an income of | 1000 | thalers | 139,556 | 1.2 |
| II. | Having,, an,, income,, of,, | 400–1000 | thalers,, | 643,628 | 5.6 |
| III. | Having,, an,, income,, of,, | 140–400 | thalers,, | 4,207,163 | 36.4 |
| Not liable to the income tax | |||||
| IV. | (Average income, 120 Th.) | 6,582,066 | 56.8 | ||
| Total | 11,572,413 | 100 | |||
| Total number of those having an income of 400 thalers or under, 93.2%. | |||||
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Education (Men and Boys over 10).
| Classes. | Persons. | Percentage. | |
| I. | Higher education | 93,000 | 1.023 |
| II. | Intermediate education | 193,000 | 2.122 |
| III. | Elementary education | 7,885,423 | 86.703 |
| IV. | Illiterate | 923,274 | 10.152 |
| Total | 9,094,757 | 100.00 | |
There were 96% of the population, then, with no education or only an elementary one.
Little by little manufacturing so forged ahead of agriculture that the necessary food was no longer produced in the country. From this time dates the importation of large quantities of grain.