HANDBOOKS PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE
' HISTORICAL SECTION OF THE FOREIGN OFFICE.— No. 39

EAST AND WEST
PRUSSIA

LONDON :
PUBLISHED BY H. M. STATIONERY OFFICE.
1920

Editorial Note.

In the spring of 1917 the Foreign Office, in connection
with tlie preparation which they were making for the work
of the Peace Conference, established a special section whose
duty it should be to provide the British Delegates to the
Peace Conference with information in the most convenient
form — geographical, economic, historical, social, religious and
political — respecting the different countries, districts, islands,
&c, with which they might have to deal. In addition,
volumes were prepared on certain general subjects, mostly
of an historical nature, concerning which it appeared that a
special study would be useful.
The historical information was compiled by trained
writers on historical subjects, who (in most cases) gave their
services without any remuneration. For the geographical
sections valuable assistance was given by the Intelligence
Division (Naval Staff) of the Admiralty ; and for the
economic sections, by the War Trade Intelligence Depart
ment, which had been established by the Foreign Office. Of
the maps accompanying the series, some were prepared by
the above-mentioned department of the Admiralty, but the
bulk of -them were the work of the Geographical Section of
the General Staff (Military Intelligence Division) of the
War Office.
Now that the Conference has nearly completed its task,
the Foreign Office, in response to numerous enquiries and
requests, has decided to issue the books for public • use,
believing that they will be useful to students of history,
politics, economics and foreign affairs, to publicists generally
and to business men and travellers. It is hardly necessary
to say that some of the subjects dealt with in the series have
not in fact come under discussion at the Peace Conference ;
but, as the books treating of them contain valuable
information, it has been thought advisable to include them.

It must be understood that, although the series of
volumes was prepared under the authority, and is now
issued with the sanction, of the Foreign Office, that Office is
not to be regarded as guaranteeing the accuracy of every
statement which they contain or as identifying itself with all
the opinions expressed in the several volumes ; the books
were not prepared in the Foreign Office itself, but are in the
nature of information provided for the Foreign Office and
the British Delegation.
The books are now published, with a few exceptions,
substantially as they were issued for the use of the Delegates.
No attempt has been made to bring them up to date, for, in
the first place, such a process would have entailed a great
loss of time and a prohibitive expense ; and, in the second,
tbe political and other conditions of a great part of Europe
and of the Nearer and Middle East are still unsettled and in
such a state of flux that any attempt to describe them would
have been incorrect or misleading. The books are therefore
to be taken as describing, in general, ante-bellum conditions,
though in a few cases, where it seemed specially desirable,
the account has been brought down to- a later date.
G. W. PEOTHEEO,
General Editor and formerly
January. 1920. Director of the Historical Section.

E. and W.
Prussia

TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE
I. GEOGRAPHY PHYSICAL AND POLITICAL
(1) Position and Frontiers .... I
(2) Surface, Coast, Lakes, and River System
Surface .... . . 3
Coast ....... 4
Lakes ....... 5
River System . . . . . . ' 6
(3) Climate  9
(4) Race and Language
Race ........ 9
Language . . . . . . .11
(5) Population Distribution and Density . . . .16
Towns and Villages . . . . .17
Movement ....... 18
II. POLITICAL HISTORY
Chronological Summary ..... 20
(1) Germans conquer Prussia (1226-83) ... 21
(2) Germanized Prussia submits to Poland. The
Reformation (1410-1640). ... 22
(3) East Prussia under the Great Elector (1640-88) 23
(4) The Prussian Monarchy (1701-95) ... 24
(5) West Prussia (1772-95)  25
(6) West Prussia lost and regained. Reforms in East
Prussia (1806-15)  26
(7) East and West Prussia since 1815 ... 28
III. SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS
(1) Religious  29
(2) Political  30
(T Educational  31
General Observations _.. . 32
Wt. 42349/441. 1,000. 3/20. O.U.P.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

[No. 33

PAGE

IV. ECONOMIC CONDITIONS

(A) Means of Communication

(1) Internal

(a) Roads .....

33

(6) Rivers .......

34

(c) Canals .......

35

(d) Railways

System ......

37

Possibilities of Expansion

39

(2) External N

(a) Ports
Accommodation .....
40
Volume of Trade .....
41
Future Development of Danzig
42
(6) Shipping Lines
43
(c) Telegraphic and Wireless Communications .
44
(B) Industry
(1) Labour
(a) Supply of Labour .....
44
(b) Labour Conditions .....
45
(2) Agriculture
(a) Products of Commercial Value .
45
(6) Methods of Cultivation ....
48
¦ (c) Forestry ........
48
(d) Land Tenure ......
49
(3) Fisheries 
49
(4) Minerals .......
50
(5) Manufacture .......
51
(C) Commerce
(1) Domestic
(a) Principal Branches of Trade
53
(6) Towns, Markets, Fairs ....
53
(c) Organizations to promote Trade and Com
merce ......
53
(2) Foreign 
54
(a) Exports .......
55
(b) Imports .......
57
(c) Commercial Treaties . . .
59
fcS&T] TABLE OP CONTENTS

PAGE

(D) Finance

(1) Pubhc Finance . . .

60

(2) Banking ......

61

(E) General Remarks ....

62

APPENDIX . ....

63

AUTHORITIES . * .

64

Maps 

65

I. GEOGRAPHY PHYSICAL AND
POLITICAL
(1) Position and Frontiers
-The Prussian provinces of East and West Prussia,
with a combined area of 24,183 square miles (East,
14,320 ; West, 9,863), lie in the extreme north-east
of the German Empire, between 15° 58' and 22° 52'
east longitude and 52° 51' and 55° 54' north latitude.
Their northern boundary is the coast of the Baltic,
and is almost entirely made up of the Gulf of
Danzig and the Kurische Nehrung. In the west and
south-west, West Prussia is contiguous with the Prus
sian provinces of Pomerania and Poznania (or Posen)
respectively. The western (Pomeranian) boundary
begins on the coast, 10 miles west of Rixhoffc, and runs
south to the crown of the Pomeranian ridge, which it
roughly follows in an irregular line south-west until
it reaches the valley of the Drage (a tributary of the
Netze). From this point the southern boundary runs
in a general easterly direction to the Vistula ; it then
follows this river up to a point about 7 miles west
of Thorn, where it bends south to the Russian (Polish)
frontier, following this to a point just north of Rajarod
(Raigrpd) in Poland.
From this point the eastern boundary, as far as the
River Memel, forms the frontier between Prussia and
Russian Lithuania. From the Memel the boundary
curves in a north-westerly direction and reaches the
Baltic at Nimmersatt.

GEOGRAPHY [»».

39

The provincial boundary between East and West
Prussia, as fixed in 1878, divides the Frische Nehrung
into two nearly equal parts, runs south-south-west to
the boundary of the Kreis (Circle) of Marienwerder,
then south-east to the Drewenz lake, and thence
roughly south to the Polish frontier.
The Pomeranian boundary in the west and the
Polish frontier in the south-east run for the most
part through the infertile districts of the Pomeranian
and Prussian ridges. The northern part of the Pome
ranian boundary roughly agrees with the watershed
of the ridge. The rest of the border, apart from the
short stretches* where it follows the courses of rivers,
coincides with no natural limits. At only two points
does it approximately correspond to a linguistic divi
sion, namely on the east from the river Jura to the
south of the Kreis of Goldap, and on the northern part
of the Pomeranian ridge. The coincidence of the two
boundaries in the latter case is only of recent date,
being due to the ' Germanization ', during the last two
centuries, of the greater part of the Polish population
in the north-east corner of Pomerania. Elsewhere, in
the south-west the boundary cu^ts through German-
speaking districts, in the south and south-east through.
Polish-speaking districts, and in the north-east through
Lithuanian territory.
Strategical considerations have played an important
part in the fixing of the East Prussian frontier, the
chain of the Masurian lakes, forests, and heaths (e. g ,
the Rominten Heath and the Johannisburg Heath)
forming a natural defence against attacks from the
east. This protection was even improved by the
Teutonic Knights, who laid waste a frontier zone
along their eastern border, which was known as the
Wilderness.

Prussia 1

SUR3] ACE

(2) Surface, Coast, Lakes, and River System
Surface
The provinces together consist of four areas :
1. The Pomeranian ridge with its eastern slopes,
forming the western half of West Prussia.
2. The Vistula depression, between the two ridges.
3. The Prussian ridge, forming the southern half of
East Prussia and the south-eastern part of West
Prussia. 4. The East Prussian lowland, forming the northern
half of the province.
The two ridges lie almost entirely at a height of
300-600 ft. The highest part of the Pomeranian ridge
is at its north-eastern end, and includes the Turmberg
(1,086 ft.). The highest points of the. Prussian ridge are
the Kernsdorfer Hohe (1,025 ft.) and Tannenberg near
the western end, and the Seesker Berg (1,015 ft.) in
the east, between Goldap and Oletzko (Marggrabowa) .
In the East Prussian lowland three areas of higher
land stand out from the rest of the country, viz.,
(i) the Elbinger Hohe, east of Elbing, also called the
Trunzer Berge ; (ii) a group of hills south of a line
from Heiligenbeil (on the Frische Haff) to Preussisch
, Eylau ; and (iii) Samland, in the neighbourhood of
Konigsberg. The remainder of the country slopes
gently towards the rivers and the sea, and is almost
entirely below 300 ft. in height.
Judged by the yield of crops per acre, the districts
of greatest fertility are the Vistula delta-plain (area,
550 square miles ; delta proper, 350 square miles), the
Vistula depression (Kreise of Thorn, Culm, Briesen,
Graudenz, and Marienwerder), and Samland with the
Landkreis of Konigsberg.
A second fertile area, corresponding in fertility to
B 2

4 GEOGRAPHY [*-m
the adjoining provinces of Posen and Silesia, is the
central part of East Prussia, i. e., the northern half
of the Begierungsbezirk of Konigsberg (except the Kreis
of Labiau), and the southern half of the Begierungs
bezirk of Gumbinnen (except the Kreis of Oletzko).
The Memel valley (Kreise of Ragnit and Niederung)
and the Kreis of Putzig also belong to this group.
The remainder of the two provinces, i. e., about
one-half of the total area, consists of poor soil of
a very small productive capacity. Some allowance
must, however, be made for climate, as the late
spring and early autumn considerably reduce the
productive value of the soil. The lower Memel plain
(area, 600 square miles) is, on the other hand, capable
of very great improvement, and if recent proposals
for drainage are carried out it will become hardly less
fertile than that of the Vistula.
There are extensive ' forests ' consisting largely of
barren moor, e. g., the Tuchel Heath in central West
Prussia, and the Johannisburg Heath in southern
East Prussia ; each of these covers several hundred
square miles. The surface of the Nehrungen (see
below, p. 5) consists of sand, and rises gradually from
the sea, forming dunes opposite the Haffs. The
movement of the sand has been checked in recent
years by the planting of pines.
Goast
The coast in general is flat and protected by sand
and mud, with a moderate slope outwards from the
shore. Cliffs, consisting of easily eroded sand and
gravel, are found at the headlands of Rixhoft and
Briisterort, the two extremities of the Gulf of Danzig,
and along the western edge of that bay.
The water is shallow, and tidal action is negligible.
Prevailing westerly winds have caused sand to be

pru^ia'J <JU AST; LAKES 5
washed eastwards from the headlands so as to form
spits stretching across the bays. The Putziger,
Frische, and Kurische Spits {Nehrungen) have been
formed in this manner, the action of the waves
being assisted by the river water, which deposits its
silt at the point where its current is held up (i. e., at
the mouth 'of the bay).
The Gulf of Danzig measures about 33 miles from
north to south. Near the shore the bottom consists of
sand, or clay mixed with sand. Shoals are rare outside
the 5-fathom line, occurring only off the Briisterort
promontory. ' On the west the Putziger Nehrung (Hela
Peninsula) extends 18 miles south-eastward into the
bay. From Oxhoft to Danzig the Pomeranian ridge
sends out spurs down to the coast, but from Danzig to
Pillau the coast is formed of dunes. The eastern part
of this stretch of coast forms the Frische Nehrung,
which fronts the Frische Haff, and is 30 miles long
and under one mile broad. From Pillau the coast rises
gradually to the rugged cliffs of Samland (Briisterort).
Owing to north-westerly gales, the shore is here being
denuded at the rate of one foot per annum.
At Kranz begins the Kurische Nehrung, a narrow
sandy peninsula extending for 52 miles north-east and
north as far as the Memel Deep, and varying in width
from | to If miles. From Memel the coast runs north
for 10 miles to the Russian frontier, and here the
bottom within the 10-fathom line is rocky.
Lakes
The surface of the ridges is studded with innumerable
lakes. These vary from mere ponds (solle) to large
lakes like those of Spirding and Mauer in East Prussia,
which have areas of 45 and 40 square miles respectively.
It is calculated that there are in West Prussia alone
over 1,900 lakes with areas of more than five acres.

6 GEOGRAPHY [Wo-39
Biver System
West Prussia, except for the Kreise of Deutsch Krone
and Flatow, which lie within the basin of the Netze,
is drained by the lower Vistula, the north-eastern
corner of East Prussia by the lower Memel (or Niemen),
and the rest of East Prussia for the most part by
the Pregel and its tributaries.
The Vistula enters West Prussia at Ottlotschin as
a broad river, 300 yds. wide and 3J ft. deep, which
has already run over three-quarters of its course.
For the 33 miles from the Polish frontier to the mouth
of the Brahe, an important left-bank tributary, the
river runs north-west. From this point it originally
ran west to the Elbe valley and so to the North Sea,
and its old valley now forms an easy route for the great
east and west waterway formed by the Bromberg Canal
and the Netze and Warthe (Warta) rivers. Its present
course, however, forms a rectangular bend at the mouth
of the Brahe, whence the main stream flows north-
north-east for 107 miles to the Baltic. From the
Brahe mouth to Pieckel (73 miles) it flows in a
valley about 5 miles wide, which is itself cut in
a broad depression (the ' Vistula depression ') between
the Pomeranian and Prussian ridges. At Pieckel
(32 miles from the sea) the valley expands into a delta,
which has filled up the western half of the Frische
Haff. Formerly the main stream bent to the west
at Einlage (2J miles from the coast) and flowed for
18 miles behind a sandspit to the sea at Neufahrwasser.
Branches flowed from Pieckel to the Frische Haff
hear Elbing (the Nogat, 37 miles), and from Einlage
to- the Frische Haff (the Elbing Vistula, 16 miles). In
1840 an ice blockage caused the river to break through
the spit above Danzig, and the consequent lowering
of the river-level made it possible to build dams or

?lȣia"] RIVER SYSTEM 7
locks at the entrances to the Nogat, Elbing Vistula, and
the Danzig or ' Dead ' Vistula ; the two latter branches
are now used as canals, while the flow of the Nogat is
regulated at Pieckel. In 1895 the present outlet was
artificially cut from Einlage to the sea at Schiewen-
horst in order to prevent damage from ice and floods.
The fall in the Vistula is slight, averaging 1 in 5,625
above Pieckel, and 1 in 5,886 from that point to the
sea; it is never more than 1 in 4,992. The breadth
below Pieckel is 270 yds., with a minimum depth of
5^ ft., maintained by dredging. The Nogat has a fall
of 1 in 7,299 and a breadth of 130 yds.
The Vistula delta is now well protected with dikes
and drained by channels, which are emptied by
pumps. Other left-bank tributaries besides the Brahe are
the Schwarzwasser and the Ferse, while on the right
bank the chief tributaries are the Drewenz (Drvent),
which forms for a short distance the boundary between
West Prussia and Russian Poland, the Ossa and the
Alte Nogati
The Memel (Russian, Niemen) enters East Prussia
at Schmalleningken, 70 miles from the sea, having
already run for 480 miles through Russian territory.
It flows west from the frontier as far as Kallwen
(40 miles), where it branches and forms a delta, which
has in course of time filled up between one-third and
one-half of the Kurische Haff.
The main river, which is from this point called the Russ,
runs for 22 miles north-west, and then forks finally into
a main channel, the Atmath (8 miles), and a secondary
channel, the Skirwieth (slightly shorter). The narrower
main branch, the Gilge, has a course of 27 miles from
Kallwen. All branches of the Memel, as well as the
Nemonien, which drains the southern part of the delta,
flow into the Kurische Haff. So also do the Minge,

8 GEOGRAPHY [¦•¦»
a fairly large stream which drains the district east of
Memel and flows south to join the Atmath at its
mouth, and the Dange, a small stream which has its
mouth at Memel.
The chief tributaries of the Memel above the delta
are, on the left bank, the Scheschuppe (Szeszuppe),
which forms for a short distance the boundary between.
East Prussia and Russian Lithuania, and, on the right
bank, the Jura, which has already run the greater part
of its. course through Russian territory.
The Memel has an average fall of 1 in 12,223, the
greatest fall being 1 in 8,312. The delta has not as
yet been systematically drained, and is only partially
protected against floods. Much of the area, which
has great possibilities, is still covered with swamps, on
whose borders colonies have settled since 1893.
The Pregel and its tributaries drain the centre and
eastern part of East Prussia, and the northern slopes
of the Prussian ridge. The river flows into the Frische
Haff 4-| miles west of Konigsberg, and issues from it at
the Pillau Deep. The Pregel is formed by the junction
of the Inster (coming from the north-east) and the
Angerapp (coming from the south-east) with its affluent
the Pissa, at Insterburg.
At Tapiau a secondary branch (the Deime, 23 miles
in length) flows north into the Kurische Haff. The
Alle flows from the south-west to join the left bank
of the Pregel at Wehlau.
The Pregel valley is generally about 3 miles wide, but
varies considerably ; its sides rise some 50 ft. Originally
some (possibly all) of the water of the Memel flowed
down the present Inster valley and on down the
Pregel to the sea. The Inster valley would provide an
easy route for a canal from Insterburg to the Memel.
The other tributaries (the Pissa, Angerapp, and Alle)
have cut moderately deep valleys ; they have a fairly

"iSST] RIVERS ; CLIMATE ; RACE 9
rapid fall and are used at many places for mills, but are
unsuitable for canalization, though timber can be floated
down them. (3) Climate
These provinces are the coldest district in Germany,
the average temperature in West Prussia, 45° F. (7° C),
being lower than that of any other province except
East Prussia, where the average in most parts is 43° F.
(6° C.) and in the south-east corner as low as 41° F.
(5° C). The average temperature of the two provinces
in January, the coldest month, is 28° F. (—2° C), or
about the same as that of Poznania and Silesia. The
mean for July, however, the warmest month, is 63° F.
(17° *C), which is about the average of northern
Germany. Spring is considered to begin in the second
half of May, i. e., roughly a fortnight later than in
central Germany and a month later than in France or on
the south coast of England. The agricultural season
is thus correspondingly shortened, and outside labour
(Polish and Russian) is required for the harvest. Late
frosts occur well on into June.
The rainfall in East and West Prussia is moderate,
relatively to that of Germany as a whole. It is least
in the Vistula depression, 18 in. (460 mm.), and greatest
on the hills near the coast and east of the Kurische
Haff, 27 in. (690 mm.). The provinces are just within
the Continental area, where rain falls all the year round,
but predominantly in the summer. The lowest average
is that of February, 1-1 in. (28 mm.) ; the highest that
of July, 2-9 in. (74 mm.).
(4) Race and Language
Bace
The inhabitants of the two provinces are predomi
nantly non-German in race, and belong to two groups,

10 GEOGRAPHY [*«.se
the Baltic and the Polish. The Baltic group consists of
Letts (or 'Kurs'), Lithuanians, and Old Prussians, or
Borussi. The last-named people were the tribe found
in the west and centre of East Prussia by the knights
of the Teutonic Order in the thirteenth century. The
name Prussia is thus strictly applicable only to this
district of East Prussia, from which it was extended
to cover the whole of that province and eventually the
whole of Brandenburg. The Old Prussians were nearly
related to the Letts, of whom a small number settled
along the coast from the Russian border to Samland.
These Letts, known as Kurs, came from Courland,
and^ like most of the Letts of that district, had a certain
admixture of Finnish blood. North-east of a line 'from
Labiau to Goldap the native population forms part of
the Lithuanian race which occupies the adjoining
district of Russia.
The southern part of East Prussia and the whole
of West Prussia were originally inhabited by Poles,
and have remained Polish except in two well-defined
areas, viz., the south-western Kreise and the Vistula
delta. These two areas, as well as the north-west
and centre of East Prussia, have been largely colonized
by Germans. The races have remained for the most
part distinct, with the exception of the Old Prussians,
whose identity has been merged in the German race
since the disappearance of their language. The pro
portion of the races is therefore only partially
shown by the language statistics, as these include as
Germans all the population of non-Germanic race that
has adopted the German language.
The tendency has been for the Germans to
congregate together for the purposes of self-pro
tection and association ; but the Prussian Govern
ment has made efforts, especially since the coloniza
tion law of 1886, to break up continuous Polish

5iS&n RACE AND LANGUAGE 11
country by the insertion of State-founded colonies.
The chief area of recent State colonization in the
provinces is in the district of Lobau and Strassburg in
the south-east of West Prussia. The chief local area
of the Polish counter-movement has been in the Kreise
of Berent and Preussisch Stargard.
Language
The Old Prussian language died out about 1700.
The Lithuanian language was formerly spoken in the
whole of East Prussia to the north-east of a line drawn
from Labiau to Goldap, and extended to the Russian
frontier. It is now mainly confined to the district north
of the Memel, and west of its tributary the Jura. Here,
except for the port of Memel itself, over 50 per cent.
of the population still speak Lithuanian. The number
of Lithuanians in East Prussia according to the census
figures of 1910 was 95,470. This shows a drop of
16,000 since 1900, instead of an expected natural
increase of 12,000. It is probable that^this discrepancy
of 28,000 (= 25 per cent.) is partly due to some form
of falsification of the figures similar to that which
appears to have occurred in the figures affecting the
Poles (see below).
The Kurs (Letts) are counted as Lithuanians in so
far as Church services in their parishes (4 in number)
are held in Lithuanian. .In 1897 about 1,200 still spoke
Lettish, while another 2,300, who normally speak
Lithuanian, used Lettish as their language for fishing
purposes. Later figures are not available.
In the greater part of West Prussia and the Begier-
ungsbezirk of Allenstein (i. e., the south of East Prussia)
a majority of the inhabitants speak Polish. To the
north of the Polish-speaking districts of East Prussia
lies a further zone in which over one-third of the

12 GEOGRAPHY |>°-39
population speak Polish. In the three northernmost
Kreise of West Prussia (Putzig,Neustadt, and Karthaus)
the Polish dialect used is known as Cassubian. In the
south of East Prussia the dialect is known as Masurian,
and in this case the divergence from ordinary Polish is
very slight. Polish is the literary language for both
areas. The proportion of Poles to Germans has not altered
to any great extent during the past 100 years. In
West Prussia the proportion of Poles during the latter
part of the nineteenth century maintained a slight but
nearly constant increase.
The following figures show the proportion of Poles
in the Kreise' oi the Polish districts according to the
census of 1910. The census figures are normally
rendered somewhat unreliable by three factors : (1)
the tendency to allow national sentiment to outweigh
fear of authority varies in strength from one census
year to another ; (2) the census tables are based on
' mother tongue ', not on the language actually used
at home ; (3) the regiments recruited from Polish pro
vinces are usually quartered in other parts of Prussia,
and vice versa. The numbers of the garrisons have
been deducted. The persons speaking both Polish and
German may be considered as virtually all Poles, and
have been included with Poles in dividing the Kreise
into groups.
In 1910 there is reason to believe that a more serious
source of error was introduced, as the figures for the
Polish population are some 1 10,000 lower than would be
expected, the figures for the German population being
higher by a similar amount. There appears to have
been no migration on a scale large enough to have
caused more than a small proportion of the change
implied ; and it must be concluded 4hat the figures
have been deliberately falsified, in order to give the

liSsfiT] LANGUAGE 13
impression that the Poles are diminishing in numbers
relatively to the Germans. The falsification appears
to have extended to Poznania and Upper Silesia.
Language Statistics according to the 1910 Census
Central West Prussia

Kreis.

German

Polish only.

Polish and

only.

German.

des 50 per cen

-j. and over
16,796

*

/o

/o
.A 

Pr. Stargard

48,080

730

168 0-2

Karthaus

19,319

50,354

72-1

214 0-3

Putzig

7,970

18,308

69-0

252 0-9

Tuchel

11,265

22,247

65-6

406 1 1

Berent .

23,682

31,719

56-7

567 1-0

Konitz

28,003

34,917

54-8

742 10

Schwetz

42,141

44,792

49-9

2,673 2-9

Neustadt 1

30,854

29,612

48-2

1,032 1-7

Poles 33-50 per cent.
Dirschau . 27,865 12,910 30-2 1,936 4-5
Poles 10-33 per cent.
Flatow . 50,648 17,021 24-6 1,509 2-1
Schlochau . 56,578 9,906 14-7 576 0-8
Danziger Hohe 47,397 5,746 10-9 324 0-6
South-eastern District of West Prussia
Poles 50 per cent, and over

LobauStrassburg
Thorn (rural)
Kulm .
Briesen

12,119 46,258

78-4

649

11

64-6

1,139

1-8

54-7

470

0-8

52-2

892

1-7

50-6

417

0-8

20,536 39,887
25,071 31,020
22,686 25,806
24,007 25,070
1 The Kreis of Neustadt has been included in the Kreise with
50 per cent, of Poles and over, though only 49-9 per cent, of its
population is Polish, as the proportion of Poles is considerably
higher (63 per cent, on the average) in every part of the Kreis
excepting the seaside resort of Zoppot. This town, which is on
the border of the Kreis of Danziger Hohe, is economically and
racially outside the Kreis of Neustadt.

14 GEOGRAPHY [>°.39
Kreis. German Polish only. Polish and
only. German.
% %
Poles 33-50 per cent. __  >  „ ^- — > — — ,
Stuhm . 20,923 15,560 42-5 22 —
Graudenz (rural) 26,456 19,157 40-9 884 1-8
Marienwerder 41,381 25,149 37-3 793 1-2
Thorn (urban) 24,803 14,907 36-7 663 1-5
Poles 10-33 per cent.
Graudenz (urban) 29,564 5,055 141 1,008 2-7
Southern East Prussia
Poles 50 per cent, and over

Ortelsburg . 19,466
Johannisburg 16,292
Neidenburg . 20,337
Ahenstein (rural) 22,825
Lyck . . 25,262
Sensburg . 23,181

r 46,912 33,34635,616 33,286
25,76322,631

68-0 64-8 60-5 57-4
48-0 46-4

(
2,465 1,620
2,645 1,782
2,590
2,310

— \
3-6314-4
30
4-8
4-7

Poles 33-50 per cent.

-

Osterode . 41,204
Oletzko . 23,855
Lotzen . 25,350

28,829 12,851
13,010

39-8 33-4
32- 1

2,279 1,723
1,802

31 4-4
4-4

:
Poles 10-33 per cent.

Rossel . . 42,605
Ahenstein(urban)24,236
6,560
2,349
131 8-4
716
1,326
1-4
4-7
The figures for East Prussia according to the 1900
census were less influenced by outside factors than
those for 1910 (see pp. 11, 12), and probably give a
fairly accurate indication of the relative proportions..
They are as follows (garrisons being deducted) :
E. and W.-i
Prussia J

LANGUAGE

lt

Kreis.

German

Polish

Polish and

Total

only.
only.
0/
German. n /
Poles. 0/
Poles over 50 per cent.
%
7o
%
Ortelsburg
14,912
50,917
75-2
1,673
2-5
77-7
Johannisburg .
12,106
33,926
70-4
2,133
4-4
74-8
Neidenburg
15,285
38,315
700
1,095
2-0
72-0
Lyck
20,564
28,805
551
2,861
5-5
60-6
Sensburg .
19,784
24,443
51-2
3,010
6-3
57-5
Allenstein(urban
36,613
38,882
49-5
2,950
3-7
53-2
and rural)
Poles 33-50 per cent
Osterode .
35,177
31,534
45-3
2,798
3-9
49-2
Lotzen
21,107
15,423
38-7
3,236
81
46-8
Oletzko
23,846
12,851
33-5
1,723
4-5
38-0
Poles 10-33 per cent.
Rossel . - . 41,932 7,070 14-2 744 1-5 15-7
In the district of Pomerania adjoining West Prussia
there is a Polish population amounting in the Kreise
of Biitow and Lauenburg to 13 and 5 per cent, re
spectively oj: the total inhabitants.
Polish territory thus ranges northwards from the
borders of Russian Poland and Poznania. It includes
six of the Kreise of East Prussia, and, if the town of
Thorn and Kreis of Neustadt (over 49 per cent. Polish
according to the census) be included, fourteen of the
Kreise of West Prussia, where it stretches past Danzig
to the sea-coast. The actual proportion of Poles to
the population of these districts is approximately
60 per cent., according to the census. If allowance
be made for officials, teachers, and Government
servants of all kinds with their families, the proportion
can hardly be less than 70 per cent., and is possibly
greater. The Polish territory also includes parts of
the adjacent Kreise in each province, in some of which
over half the area has a predominant Polish-speaking
population.
16 GEOGRAPHY [Ho-38
It should be observed that the German population
of the Polish territory includes the settlers in the
recently planted strategic colonies ; further, that the
census figures show a tendency for German inhabitants
to leave the rural districts. The proportion of Germans
among the settled population of the country is already
considerably smaller than among the more mobile
population of the towns.

(5) Population
Distribution and Density
East and West Prussia are thinly populated districts,
with an average proportion of 140 and 170 inhabitants
per square mile respectively. Only one other con
siderable district of Germany, Mecklenburg, is as
sparsely populated as West Prussia, and the density
in East Prussia is the lowest in the country. It is
noteworthy that in density of population the two
provinces approach the greater part of Poland in one
area only, namely, the Vistula delta-plain (including
Danzig). East and West Prussia have about half the
density of population found in Silesia and about one-
quarter of that1 of the Rhineland.
The rural population is densest (over 230 per square
mile) in the Kreise of Danziger Hohe and Dirschau, and
(from 150 to 200 per square mile) in the Kreise of the
Vistula depression from Thorn northwards to the mouth
of the river ; also in the Kreise of" Neustadt and Nieder-
ung. The most sparsely populated districts (under
100 per square mile) are three Kreise in the west
(Deutsch Krone, Schlochau, and Tuchel), and two
Kreise in the south-east (Johannisburg and Neiden
burg). The rest of the country has a uniform
population of between 100 and 150 per square mile.

E. and W
Prussia

]

POPULATION; TOWNS

17

The density appears to bear no relation to race or
language, but varies (especially in West Prussia)
roughly in proportion to the fertility of the soil. Ct
has been observed that the areas where the land is
mostly in the hands of large landowners are the most
thinly populated.

Towns and Villages
In 1910 33 per cent, of the population lived in
towns, 66 per cent, in the country. The proportions in
1880 were 25 and 74 respectively. Thus the general
tendency towards migration into the towns shows
itself to some extent in the two provinces, but the
proportion of country-dwellers to town-dwellers has
remained higher than in any province except Poznania ;
while in East Prussia taken by itself it is higher still
(68 per cent.). The majority of the so-called towns,
moreover, are small country towns or villages. Only
five towns have any considerable industrial population,
the figures in 1910 being as follows :

Total population

Konigsberg .

. 245,994

Danzig

. 182,468

Elbing

63,600

Thorn

46,227

Graudenz .

40,325

All these are either seaports or river ports. Pour
other towns have over 20,000 inhabitants, namely :
Tilsit (39,013), Allenstein (33,077), Insterburg (31,624),
and Memel (21,470). Thirteen other towns have be
tween 10,000 and 15,000 inhabitants. Altogether there
are 107 towns with over 2,000 inhabitants ; they are
almost evenly distributed over the two provinces.

18

GEOGRAPHY

[No. 39

. Movement
The population of East and West Prussia doubled
itself in the period 1816-71. Since 1871 that of West
Prussia has increased to a figure three times as great
as that for 1816, while that of East Prussia has also
steadily increased. The figures are :

1816
Total.

Per sq.
mile.

1871
Total.

Per sq.
mile

1910
Total.

Per sq.
mile.

1905-10 Increase
per 1,000.

East Prussia .
West Prussia .

886,174
571,081

62
57

1,822,9341,314,611

127
133

2,064,175 1,703,474

144
173

16-6
36-8

The higher figures for West Prussia are largely due
to the higher birth-rate among the Poles. • It is note
worthy that although the birth-rate in West Prussia
is higher, the death-rate is about the same as in East
Prussia, or even lower.
At the middle of the nineteenth century the birth
and death rates in these provinces were 45 and 36
per 1,000 respectively, each figure being relatively
high, greater by 7 per 1,000 than the average for the
whole country. Since that date both rates have fallen
slowly until about 1900, then rapidly. In 1913 the
rates were:

East Prussia
West Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia

Birth-rate. . 31
. 36
. 29

Death-rate. 18-618-5
15-8

The death-rate, as in other civilized countries, has
fallen more rapidly than the birth-rate, and con
sequently the excess of births over deaths per 1,000
has risen, though more so in West Prussia (18 in
1905-10), and less in East Prussia (12-6 in 1905-10),
than the average for the kingdom (150 in 1905-10).

SrusSia*] POPULATION 19
The number of foreigners present, nearly all tem
porary labourers, is small in comparison with those
in industrial districts, being (1910) 15,000 in East
Prussia, 7,000 in West Prussia, About two-thirds
were Russian subjects, and among other countries
represented were Austria-Hungary and Switzerland,
and, to a much less degree, Italy. One-quarter of the
aliens present in 1900 were Polish by race.

C2

A.D,

No. 39

II. POLITICAL HISTORY
Chronological Summary
1226-83. Native Prussians (Wends) subjugated by Teutonic
Order.
1410. Teutonic Order defeated by Poles and Lithuanians at
Tannenberg.
1411. First Peace of Thorn.
1454. War between Poland and the Teutonic Order.
1466. Second Peace of Thorn. West Prussia ceded to Poland.
East Prussia becomes a Polish fief.
1525. Reformation in East Prussia, which becomes a Duchy
under the Hohenzollern Albert of Brandenburg.
1618. East Prussia inherited by Elector of Brandenburg.
1640. Accession of Frederick William of Brandenburg, the
Great Elector.
1657. Treaty of Wehlau. Poland cedes to the Great Elector
sovereignty over East Prussia.
1660. Peace of Oliva.
1660-72. The Great Elector overcomes the Eas't Prussian
Estates, which opposed his paternal absolutism.
1701. Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg, becomes 'King in
(East) Prussia '.
1758-62. East Prussia occupied by Russians until voluntarily
evacuated by Tsar Peter II.
1772. First Partition of Poland. Frederick the Great acquires
West Prussia, with the exception of Danzig and
Thorn. Attempts at Germanization follow.
1793. Second Partition of Poland. Danzig and Thorn acquired
by Frederick William II, together with a new pro
vince of South Prussia.
1795. Third Partition of Poland. Frederick William II acquires
New East Prussia.
1807. Treaty of Tilsit. Parts of West Prussia included in new
Duchy of Warsaw. Danzig a free city.
1811. Serfs in West Prussia emancipated.
1815. Congress of Vienna. Frederick William II recovers West
Prussia.
1824. Fusion of East and West Prussia.

ftSari GERMAN CONQUEST 21
1873. Conflict between Prussia and the Roman Catholic Church
, stimulates Polonism.
Z V 1878. Separation of East and West Prussia. ^
[/ Z 1886. Prussian Diet establishes a Colonization Commission for
Posen and West Prussia ; £5,000,000 provided, subse
quently increased.
1893. Polish support for Army Bill gained by economic help to
Polish landowners. (Capri vi.)
¦y c/ 1894. William II upholds Germanism at Marienburg. German
Association of the Eastern Marches formed to combat
Polonism.
1906. Prussian Minister of Finance complains that since 1891
Germans in East Prussia have been reduced by 630.000.
Strike of Polish school-children.
1908. Prussian Bills for compulsory expropriation of Polish
landowners in Posen and West Prussia and for limiting
use of Polish language at meetings.
(1) Germans conquer Prussia (1226-83)
Since the fall of Napoleon, the region which gave the
name of Prussia to the Hohenzollern monarchy has
been simply a portion of the modern Prussian State.
The special interest of its history, therefore, lies in the
years prior to 1815. At the beginning of the thirteenth
century this region was inhabited by a people subse
quently known as Old Prussians, an unlettered and
polygamous race akin to the Letts and Lithuanians.
These were invaded in 1226 by German crusaders of
the Teutonic Order, whose advent was due to the need
of the Polish princes for protection. The inhabitants
defended themselves tenaciously and learned much
from the invaders, but before the century closed they
had been crushed. Some remnants took shelter with
the Lithuanians, whose anti-German feelings they
inflamed; some remained in the shelter of the lakes and
marshes ; others, both nobles and peasants, had refrained
from resistance,, and some districts were inhabited by
Poles. But thenceforward the name Prussian denotes
the German conqueror.

22 HISTORY [»»¦»
(2) Germanized Prussia submits to Poland. The
Beformation (1410-1640)
In 1410 Poland and Lithuania attacked and defeated
the Teutonic Order at Tannenberg ; but in the following
year the first Peace of Thorn practically left the terri
tory of the knights intact. The abuses of their rule
led to the formation by the gentry and townspeople
of a so-called^ ' Prussian League ', which placed itself
under the protection of Casimir IV of Poland, who
issued a manifesto (1454) incorporating the Prussian
provinces with Poland. This led to a long war with
the Teutonic Order, ending in the second Peace of
Thorn (1466), by which Prussia became dependent
on the Polish Crown. East Prussia was henceforward
merely a Polish fief, but West Prussia formed some
thing like a third component in the Polish-Lithuanian
State. It sent representatives to the Diet at Warsaw;
but it also held its own provincial assemblies, and its
troops were not bound to serve outside the province.
In 1618 East Prussia fell to the elder branch of the
Hohenzollerns which ruled in Brandenburg, and so in
1640 passed by inheritance to Frederick William, the
'Great Elector '.
Prussia was secured and organized by Germans under
the control of the Order. ' The great work of Eastern
colonization,' writes Prince von Billow, ' is the best
and most permanent result of our brilliant history
during the Middle Ages, a piece of work performed,
not by a single German tribe, but by all of them to
gether. One and all — Saxons, Pranks, Bavarians, Swa-
bians, Thuringians, Lorrainers, Flemings, and Frisians
¦ — sent men of their tribe to the East of Germany,
laymen and churchmen, knights and peasants.' There
was scarcely a single German princely house that was
unrepresented in Prussia. Unity prevailed; and the
Teutonic Order has been regarded as the forerunner of

&5&n THE GREAT ELECTOR (1640-88) 23
modern Germany, 'the prototype of military -political
organization in the service of self-defence always ready
to strike'. It was in substance secular rather than
ecclesiastical, starving the local church and sometimes
in conflict with Rome. Thus, when the Reformation
came, it spread through Prussia with lightning speed.
The Bishop of Ermeland, indeed, kept his lands strictly
Catholic ; but Albert of Hohenzollern, the Grand
Master of the Order, made East Prussia a Protestant
Duchy of his own; and the West Prussian towns
eagerly embraced Luther's teachings. In the long-
run, the Reformation exercised a powerful influence on
the history of both East and West Prussia ; for, while
Brandenburg speedily accepted it, Poland became its
ardent opponent.
(3) East Prussia under the Great Elector (1640-88)
The problem before the Great Elector was how to
emancipate himself as ruler of East Prussia from
Polish overlordship. He solved it by organizing
a strong military force and by changing sides with
astuteness and alacrity in the struggle between the
Swedes and Poles, with the result that by the Treaty
of Wehlau"(1657) he was recognized by Poland as inde
pendent Duke of Prussia, with reversion to the ' King
and Republic of Poland ' in case of failure of male heirs
to him or his descendants. Three years later the Peace
of Oliva left him immediate lord of the Duchy; and he
at once set about the subjugation of the Estates.
He recognized clearly that a strong state could be
established only if the former separation of the several
provinces and the influence of their Estates were
ended ; and he therefore worked indef atigably to found
an absolute autocracy with the aid of a large well-
trained army. Bound by self-interest to maintain
the law, he could not violate . it openly ; but he
availed himself of subterfuges and untruths and made

24 HISTORY [no. 39
promises which he was firmly resolved not to keep.
In Prussia he fought alone against all the world,
but he reached his goal. This, the overthrow of
Prussian privileges, may be said to have been achieved
in 1672 with the judicial murder of Von Kalckstein,
a political opponent whom the Great Elector kidnapped
in the Polish capital, tortured contrary to law, and
finally beheaded, thus showing the Prussian nobles
how much they had to fear from himself and how little
to hope from their chartered liberties and from Poland.
' After this there came over the Prussians a triumphant
consciousness of belonging to the Hohenzollern State,
as over the Rhinelanders in 1866. Thenceforward
East Prussia is a really German land with genuine
German feeling.'
(4) The Prussian Monarchy (1701-95)
Geographically, Eastern or Ducal Prussia was still
separated by Western or Royal or Polish Prussia
from the central mass of the Hohenzollern dominions,
and lay politically outside the bounds of the Empire,
From both points of view thie change which took
place in 1701, when, with the consent of the Emperor,
the son and successor of the Great Elector became
' King in Prussia ', was of incontestable importance.
The second king, Frederick William I (1713-40),
developed the army and treasure necessary for the
next advance. His care for the economic interests
of his dominions was illustrated by the settlement
of exiled Protestants from Salzburg, whom, to the
number of some 17,000, he established in East Prussia.
The third king, Frederick the Great (1740-86),
made the Prussian monarchy a great power, and
Prussia, both East and West, one of its stoutest limbs.
The entry of Russia into the Seven Years' War inter
rupted his rule over East Prussia ; and he had resigned
himself to the abandonment of the province when

riSST] WEST PRUSSIA (1772-95) 25
a new Tsar, Peter II, suddenly returned it to him
without equivalent (1762). Ten years later, by the
First Partition of Poland, West Prussia became his,
with the exception of Danzig and Thorn.
(5) West Prussia (1772-95)
From the juridical point of view, West Prussia was
ceded to the Hohenzollerns by the Treaty of Warsaw
(September 18, 1773), supplemented by a boundary
convention signed at the same place on August 22,
1776. In reality, of course, the cession amounted
simply to an obligatory acquiescence by the Poles
irl what had been done by overwhelming force, and was
justified by historical claims which Frederick ranked
far below even his titles to Silesia.
The new province contained a population estimated
at 416,000 souls. In race and in religion it was far
from homogeneous. The extirpation of the original
inhabitants had here been less complete than in East
Prussia ; many Polish and Jewish elements were
present ; and the preference of the local nobles for
Polish over German rule had been evident for three
hundred years. In dealing with opposition from his
new subjects, however, Frederick was in a position in
finitely stronger than that of his great-grandfather,' the
Great Elector. West Prussia was a disorderly wildeiv
ness, without industry, town life, or solid peasantry.
The poor and pretentious nobles were swiftly dis
missed from their offices ; education and coloniza
tion received liberal help from the Crown ; the Brom-
berg Canal united the systems of the Vistula and Oder ;
and Bromberg rose from a mere village to a substantial
town. Frederick not only introduced the Hohenzollern
principles and' system of government, but endeavoured
also to increase the German elements in the population.
It fell to his nephew and successor, Frederick
William II (1786-97), to complete the acquisition of

26 HISTORY |>-39
the old Prussian province. In the Second (1793) and
Third (1795) Partitions of Poland, Danzig and Thorn
were won; the province was buttressed by a new
Prussia, South and East, and safeguarded by the ex
tinction of independent Poland.
(6) West Prussia lost and regained. Beforms in East
Prussia (1806-15)
The great expansion of the Prussian State and
Province at the expense of Poland remained un
challenged for eleven years, but the new structure then
collapsed before the onslaught of Napoleon. After
a campaign in East Prussia the Treaty of Tilsit (180?)
was concluded, by which the Hohenzollerns lost almost
all the Polish territories acquired by Frederick the
Great. The greater part of West Prussia was incorpo
rated in the new Duchy of Warsaw — a revived Poland
under the ruler of Saxony. Danzig became a free city
under Prussian and Saxon protection.
West Prussia thus entered upon a practical servitude
which lasted more than five years and culminated in the
invasion of Russia by 200,000 Germans as auxiliaries of
the French. Yet. this was the time when the reforms
associated with the name of Stein were in great part
proclaimed from Konigsberg, and when East Prussia
won her place of pride as the leader in the War of
Liberation. It is claimed that this great contribution
to the downfall of Napoleon was in no sense accidental.
The province then possessed a marked colonial stamp,
centuries of struggle against soil and climate having
given to nobles, burghers, and yeomen alike great
depth of character and tenacity. Educationally the
successors of Kant were advanced enough to exert
influence upon Stein himself.
Before 1807 the monarchy had been based upon
a feudal system in which the public services formed
the inheritance of the nobles, agriculture and (if

fcS&Tl REFORMS IN EAST PRUSSIA 27
demanded) service in the ranks that of the peasants,
ahd trade and industry that of the burghers. Each
class had inalienable lands of its own and remained
a close hereditary corporation. Town and country
were sharply separated and even opposed. The
peasant was a serf, the burgher commonly narrow-
minded and unenterprising, the noble often self-
satisfied and overbearing.
In the years which followed the collapse of the
Hohenzollern State before Napoleon all this was
changed. Serfdom was abolished, and the prospect
dawned of a land tenure free from feudal burdens.
Every Prussian subject gained freedom to choose his
dwelling-place and his career. The army became na
tional; and even the corps of officers was thrown
open to men of non-noble birth. The financial system
was reorganized. By the great Municipal Ordinance
of 1808, which was introduced first in Konigsberg and
Elbing, the communes regained wide autonomy and
freedom. Under it the burghers or freemen elected
some of their number as communal deputies. These
chose the magistrates, subject to confirmation by the
provincial authorities, the Crown reserving the right to
appoint the burgomaster from among three candidates
whom the towns proposed. ' The Municipal Ordinance
. . . has proved adaptable to all the changed conditions
incidental to a century of growth. Under the revised
forms in operation to-day the German towns are
exercising in some directions wider powers of self-
government than any other towns in the world possess.'
The work of regeneration was crowned and fortified
by educational reform. In 1810 the University of
Berlin was launched upon a brilliant career. At about
the same time the League of Virtue (Tugendbund), first
formed at Konigsberg, rallied the youth of the nation
in preparation for throwing off the foreign yoke.

28 HISTORY l>-38
(7) East and West Prussia since 1815
In the War of Liberation (1813-15) the Hohenzollern
kingdom finally secured its independence. At its recon-
stitution in 1815, West Prussia and the late province
bf Poznania were regained, but the bulk of the lands
seized in the Second and Third Partitions now passed
to Russia. Succeeding generations have been taught
to deplore the loss of the Vistula line. East Prussia
and to a less extent West Prussia were left in the
position of an exposed wing of the reconstituted
State, since new East Prussia and the eastern half
of South Prussia fell to the Tsar. At the same time
East Prussia acquired the abiding prestige of the pro
vince from which the national uprising had been
inspired. Owing in great part to the international situation,
however, the representative institutions devised by Stein
did not find their embodiment in fact ; and the Liberal
movement, therefore, produced agitations which became
most conspicuous in 1848. East and West Prussia, how
ever, underwent little disturbance. Since 1815 neither
of the provinces has figured independently in history,
save in their respective relations to the question of
Polish nationality. With a less fertile soil, a harsher
climate, and a sparser population than most of the
other Hohenzollern provinces, with huge estates and
a striking absence of considerable towns, they have
remained the seat of unprogressive Junkerdom, of inde
pendent manorial jurisdiction, and of ignorance. They
have shared, of course, in the general changes affecting
the State as a whole. Thus in 1817 their Lutheran
and Calvinist Churches were combined by royal decree
in an Evangelical Union ; and in 1823 they received
the royal concession of Provincial Estates with a marked
aristocratic predominance and severely limited powers.

E.and VT. i
Prussia J

III. SOCIAL AND POLITICAL
CONDITIONS (1) Religious
In respect of their religious confession, as affected
by history, there is a marked contrast between
East and West Prussia. Broadly speaking, East
Prussia, under the House of Hohenzollern, has been
thoroughly germanized, and has become almost
entirely Protestant. In the comparatively recent
acquisition of West Prussia, on the other hand, large
districts retain the Roman Catholic faith which was
theirs in Polish times. But an apparent exception to
the rule is furnished by Ermeland, which now belongs
to East Prussia, but remains predominantly Romanist ;
while West Prussia contains ancient colonies of Germans,
some of which have been Protestant since the Refor
mation. In 1900 the population of East Prussia ap
proached two millions, of whom nearly 270,000 were
Roman Catholics and nearly 14,000 Jews ; the
remainder, or six-sevenths of the whole, being, at
least nominally and officially, Protestant. In 1905
the total exceeded two millions.
In 1905 West Prussia contained rather more than
1,641,000 inhabitants, of whom 51-4 per cent, were
Roman Catholics. There were 16,000 Jews ; and the
remainder, 46-6 per cent, of the whole, were classified
as Protestant.
It must be remembered that in the isolated and
backward agricultural communities of East and West
Prussia, where large towns are rare, confessional differ
ences count for more than they do in Germany proper.

30 PRESENT CONDITIONS |>.39
The usual type is that of villages or districts practically
homogeneous from the religious point of view ; and the
cleavage is not lessened by the annual irruption of
foreign harvesters, or by the growing national con
sciousness of the Poles, who are almost all Romanists.
In West Prussia two-thirds of the Roman Catholic
population are Polish. The Jews are generally disliked,
though not, as a rule, on religious grounds.
While the Roman Cathohc faith has given powerful
aid to Polish nationality, it is recognized that the
racial tie surpasses the religious in strength, and that,
once a Prussian subject regards himself as primarily
a Pole, he will hardly change his view under ecclesi
astical direction. This fact adds importance to the
presence in the south of East Prussia of some 400,000
Masurians, who are Polish-speaking Protestants.
(2) Political
The recent history of both East and West Prussia
has largely consisted in the religious, economic, educa
tional, and political attacks by the Government upon
its Polish subjects, described in Prussian Poland,
No. 45 of this series. These were primarily con
cerned with Poznania (Posen), which stood to East and
West Prussia in the relation of head to members. With
out Poznania, the West Prussian Poles would have found
racial assertion difficult ; and they might well have been
assimilated almost as fully as their kinsmen in East
Prussia. But with the men of Poznania to lead them
they were able to contribute powerfully to the Polish
resistance against aggressive Teutonism. The Kullur-
kampf roused their anti-German sentiment. Its con
sequence, the Colonization Commission, was entitled
' for West Prussia and Poznania ' ; and between 1886
and 1895 the country north-east of Thorn became almost
as full of purchased Polish estates as the Poznanian
territories beyond the Vistula. The compulsory use of

prSSsiM POLITICAL AND EDUCATIONAL 31
the German language, culminating in the autumn of
1906 when the Minister of Public Instruction forbade
prayers to be recited in Polish in the primary schools,
outraged the inhabitants of great tracts in both East
and West Prussia at a time when the landowners of
these provinces were already suffering from the
economic effects of this policy. For, where the Govern
ment had succeeded in compelling the Polish labourers
to learn German, it had merely enhanced their industrial
value and caused them to abandon agriculture, the
occupation in which they were indispensable to their
employers. By the year 1907 it had become apparent that the
Poles had defeated the Colonization Commission. The
new Government campaign was embodied in ' Measures
to strengthen Germanism in the Provinces of East
Prussia and Poznania '. Both East and West Prussia
now contributed important auxiliaries to the Polish
national movement. Together they constituted one
of the four divisions of the Central Polish Election
Committee. Two of the four Polish Educational
Unions were formed in West Prussia ; and violently
Polish newspapers were published at Danzig, Graudenz,
and Thorn. The Union of Unions, which the East
and West Prussian Poles obeyed, combated with no
little success the Polish Expropriation Law, which
appeared to British eyes at the time ' one of the most
illiberal measures ever passed by any Parliament '.
In the sphere of religion the disposition grew for
Polish Romanists in East and West Prussia to regard
themselves as members of an all-Polish archiepiscopal
province. (3) Educational
The general educational system is that of Prussia.
But, owing to the predominance oi the manorial
system of the landed classes and the small concern

32 PRESENT CONDITIONS [»°-3a
which these affect for education, school buildings in
the remoter districts are very poor, the teacher s
position is low, and education in general is backward.
The reluctance to admit the Polish language increases
the difficulties in the primary schools. Secondary
education, on the other- hand, is extremely good.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
It is possible that the comparatively recent date at
which the great city of Danzig was seized by Prussia
may cause those who are unacquainted with it to
mistake its national character. This has been for
several centuries definitely German. Some of the
most conspicuous of the trophies of the Reformation
were preserved within its walls ; and twenty years
ago it was possible to inhabit it for some time without
becoming aware that a Polish question existed.
This German character is, naturally, maintained in
the greater part of East Prussia. In West Prussia,
apart from Danzig, as well as in Poznania, the Polish
nationality undoubtedly prevails.

E. and W.-i
Prussia J

IV. ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
(A) MEANS OF COMMUNICATION
(1) Internal
(a) Boads
The chief metalled roads in East and West Prussia
are the provincial roads and circle (Kreis) roads,
besides which there are a few roads kept up by the
several parishes, and nearly 50 km. of Imperial and
State roads. The total length of the provincial and
circle roads in each Begierungsbezirk of the two pro
vinces in 1913 is shown in the following tables :

East Prussia

Begierungsbezirk.

Provincial roads.

Circle roads:

Km. of tliese roads
to 100 sq. km.

km.
* km.
KonigsbergGumbinnen AUenstein
684
772 423
2,377 1,3451,575
19-419-3 16-6
1,879
5,297
19-3
West Prussia
Begierungsbezirk.
Provincial roads.
Circle roads.
Km. of these roads
to 100 sq. km.
km.
km.
Danzig Marienwerder
421 513
1,488
3,706
23-9 23-9
934
3,194
23-9
In East Prussia the road-system is exceedingly
inadequate. Prussian Lithuania, where metalled roads
have been made only in the last few decades, has
especially suffered from the lack of means of communica
tion. In Masuria, too, up to very recent times, the
cross-roads left much to be desired, though the roads
through the State forests were well kept.
34 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [>°-38
(b) Bivers
The Memel or Niemen has been regulated and em
banked, and is navigable for the whole of its course
through East Prussia. Its mean depth allows the
passage of vessels of 5i ft. draught. The two chief
tributaries it receives in Prussia, the Scheschuppe
(Szeszuppe) and the Jura, are both used for timber
floating. As regards the navigability of the Niemen
in its upper reaches, see Bussian Poland, Lithuania,
and White Bussia, No. 44 of this series.
The Pregel has been canalized up to Konigsberg,
which can be reached by sea-going vessels. Craft
drawing 5 ft. can go as far as Tapiau, 28 miles from the
mouth ; but above this point the river can be used only
by small boats, and beyond Wehlau it is so silted up. as
to be virtually useless as a waterway. Of its tributaries,
the Alle is used by small craft from Wehlau to Friedland
(34 miles), and the Deime is navigable for its whole
course of 24 miles. The other tributaries are unsuitable
for navigation, but can be used for floating timber.
The Passarge, which flows into|thejFrische Haff, is not
navigable ; and the Pissek is used only for timber floating.
The Vistula is navigable throughout its course in
West Prussia, and is a very important artery for heavy
traffic. It is, however, difficult to navigate, owing to
numerous sandbanks ; and little improvement can be
expected until it has been regulated in Poland. Of
the streams forming its delta, the Nogat cannot be
used by vessels of more than 2 ft. draught ; but both
the so-called Elbing Vistula, which leaves the main
stream at Rotebude, and the Danzig or ' Dead ' Vistula
have been canalized, the latter being able to take
vessels with a draught of 16J ft. Between these two
branches a channel has been cut from Einlage, where
there is a lock, to the sea at Schiewenhorst. The other
branches of the delta are not used for navigation.

E. and. W

SiuSsia ] RIVERS AND CANALS 35
(c) Canals
Although East Prussia possesses a number of useful
canals, they are mostly short and of merely local
importance. West Prussia is ill-provided with artificial
waterways; and neither province is connected with
the great canal system of central and western Germany.
The need for more and better canals has been strongly
felt, for the traffic of East and West Prussia is largely
concerned with heavy goods which cannot bear high
railway rates.
The region of the two provinces which is best pro
vided with canals is the north-east of East Prussia.
The Konigsberg Ship Canal connects Konigsberg with
Pillau, passing through the Frische Haff, where it is
protected by moles. It is dredged to a depth of 20 ft.
The Konig-Wilhelm Canal, 25 miles in length, which
links Memel with Lankuppen on the Minge, can be
used by vessels of 300 tons burthen, and is of much
service to timber merchants. Communication between
the Memel (Niemen) and the Pregel is afforded by
several small canals and by the important Seckenburg
Canal, which connects the canalized Gilge (the most
southerly branch of the Memel delta) with the Nemonien,
whence it is continued by the Grosser Friedrichsgraben,
which at Labiau joins the Deime, a tributary of the
Pregel. Lakes Mauer and Spirding, and some of the smaller
lakes of the Masurian region, are linked by small
canals ; and in the extreme west of the province lie the
middle sections of the Oberland Canal, which, with
the aid of Lakes Drausen, Rothloff, and Geserich, con
nects the West Prussian towns of Elbing and Deutsch-
Eylau. This canal can take craft of 50 tons burthen,
and has four locks and five inclined planes on which
there are tramways capable of carrying vessels of
70 tons. It has two branches — one leading to Osterode
p2

36 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [*-*9
through Lake Drewenz, and the other to Saalfeld
through Lake Ewing.
Two short stretches of this canal belong to West
Prussia, but that province contains no other artificial
waterway of note except the Kraffohl Canal, which
links the Elbing Vistula with the Nogat. It must be
remembered, however, that a great deal of money
and energy has been devoted to the canalization of
various branches of the Vistula delta.
The desirability of improving the canal system of
East and West Prussia gave rise to many projects,
but the only waterway under construction in 1914
was the Masurian Canal. It was to connect Allenburg
on the Alle with Lake Mauer, and subsequently,
according to the hopes of the more sanguine of its
promoters, to be extended southwards, so as to afford
communication between the Masurian lake region and
the basin of the Narew. The canal was expected to be
of great economic value to East Prussia ; but, though
work on it was begun in 1908, it was still far from
completion at the outbreak of the war. Should the
project of a waterway from the Baltic to the Black Sea
be taken seriously in hand, the Masurian Canal might
form a section of the new route. In Ifiat case, however,
the original plans would have to be revised, as they
were based on the assumption that the canal would
not be used by vessels of more than 300 tons
burthen. Closely connected with the scheme for the Masurian
Canal was an enterprise having as its object, the
increase of water-supply for the canals of the lake
region. Most of the surplus water of this district
flows southwards, and thus renders no service to
East Prussia. It was therefore resolved to divert the
outflow of Lake Spirding and other lakes towards
the north, The necessary works, which included

E. and W

pi^n CANALS; RAILWAYS 37
several reservoirs and a large dam, were begun in
1908, but are still unfinished.
A project which has attracted much attention and
been thoroughly examined is that of the so-called Ost-
Kanal, which would run from Lake Spirding by way
of AUenstein and Lake Drewenz to Deutsch-Eylau, and
thence to a point on the Vistula just north of Thorn.
Schemes have also been suggested for connecting
Silesia and West Prussia by a canal, and for con
structing a waterway from the basin of the Memel to
that of the Windau (Windawa), and thus providing
a new route between East Prussia and the Baltic ports
of Courland and Livonia. Nothing, however, has been
done towards the execution of these plans.
In East Prussia the principal inland port is Tilsit,
a great centre of the timber trade, where before the
war it. was resolved to build a large harbour for timber.
Among the other river or canal ports may be mentioned
Lankuppen, on the Konig-Wilhelm Canal, Tapiau, on
the Pregel, and Pinnau- Wehlau, at the confluence of
the Pregel with the Alle.
The leading river port of West Prussia is Thorn,
while in the Vistula delta there are several ports of
lesser note, such as Rotebude, Platenhoff, Einlage, and
Danziger Haupt. (d) Bailways
System. — The railways are all State-owned, and are
managed by the railway boards of Konigsberg and
Danzig. Their length, both actual and in proportion
to the area and population of the two provinces, is
indicated in the following table, which refers to the
year 1912 :
Km. per
Main Secondary Km. per 10,000 in-
lines. lines. Total. 100 sq. km. habitants.
km. km. km.
East Prussia 979 1,870 2,849 7-6 13
West Prussia 919 1,331 2,250 8 8 13

38 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 1>°-39
In the German Empire as a whole, there were, on
an average, 9-15 km. of railway to every 10,000 in
habitants. Compared with other German provinces,
both East and West Prussia were thus very well
provided with railways.
The railway system of the two provinces is simple.
Both are traversed by two important lines from
Berlin, viz. :
1. The Osibahn to Konitz, Dirschau (junction for
Danzig), Konigsberg, and Eydtkuhnen, on the Russian
frontier, where it is in connexion with the Russian line
to Vilna and Petrograd.
2. The line, passing through Schneidemuhl and
Bromberg in Posen, to Thorn, AUenstein, and Inster
burg, where it joins the Ostbahn.
There are also several lines running inland from the
Baltic coast. Of these the following deserve notice :
1. The Danzig- Dirschau -Marienburg— Deutsch
Eylau-Soldau line, the continuation of which reaches
the Polish frontier at Illowa and affords direct com
munication with Warsaw.
2. The Pillau - Konigsberg - Korschen - Lyck line,
v/hich is continued to Prostken, on the frontier of
Poland, and thence to Bialystock, on the Warsaw-
Moscow railway.
3. The line from Memel to Insterburg, via Tilsit.
Mention should also be made of a line which runs
roughly parallel with the southern frontier of the two
provinces, leaving the Thorn-Insterburg railway near
Schonsee, passing through Strassburg, Soldau, Neiden
burg, Ortelsburg, Johannisburg, and Goldap, and
reaching the Ostbahn a little east of Stalluponen.
This line is of small economic value, but its strategic
importance is very great, and it stood the Germans in
good stead during the campaigns of 1914 and 1915.
East Prussia has direct railway communication with

Prussi^] RAILWAYS 39
Russian territory at three points, which have been
mentioned above, but no line actually crosses the
frontier between Poland and West Prussia. Two lines,
however, afford easy communication between the two
regions — one is the railway from Thorn to Warsaw,
which enters Poland from Poznania, the other, already
noticed, is the Danzig- Warsaw line, the frontier station
of which, Illowa, is in East Prussia.
In both provinces the lines are for the most part
single, but the track of the following sections is double :
1. The Ostbahn throughout.
2. The Berlin-Thorn-Insterburg line, except from
Thorn to Jablonowo and from Korschen to Insterburg.
3. The Danzig-Illowa line.
4. The line from Korschen to Lyck.
It may be added that East Prussia has 802 km. of
light railways (Kleinbahnen) and West Prussia 583 km.
Possibilities of Expansion. — While a number of local
branch lines are urgently needed, even more imperative,
in the interests of the two provinces, is the construction
of new links with Poland, Lithuania, and Courland.
At present, traffic between the Baltic and the manu
facturing region of Poland passes largely through
Stettin, which is in easy communication with Lodz ;
while the alignment of the principal railways of
Courland and Lithuania attracts the overseas trade
of those parts to Libau and Windau. Thus Danzig
and the ports of East Prussia have failed to secure
a great part of the commerce to which their geographical
position would seem to entitle them. The improve
ment of railway communication between East and
West Prussia and adjacent districts must, of course,
depend largely on the character of the political settle
ment effected in these regions and the consequent
relations between the different peoples concerned.

40 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [*».*•
(2) External
(a) Ports
Accommodation. — In East Prussia the chief seaports
are Memel, Konigsberg, and Pillau, while Tilsit, a river
port already described, carries on a considerable trade
with Lithuania. Elbing and Danzig are the only
seaports of note in West Prussia, which has an impor
tant river port in Thorn (see p. 37), where an active
trade with Poland is conducted.
The port of Memel (population, 21,000) is approached
by the Memel Deep, a channel nearly 7 km. long.
The harbour, which is from 13 ft. to 19^ ft. in depth,
is roomy and safe. The total length of the quays is
1,000 yds., and there is in addition a jetty 133 yds.
long. The harbour is adequately provided with cranes
and has a patent slip. Before the war Memel was the
principal centre of the Baltic timber trade. It used to
have a considerable transit trade with the interior of
western Russia, but this has declined.
Konigsberg (population, 246,000) stands on a harbour
formed by the Pregel and 21 ft. in depth. The Konigs
berg Ship Canal (see p. 35) enables vessels of 3,000 tons
to enter the port. Konigsberg has about H miles of
wharves, on which, among other buildings, is a granary
capable of holding nearly 37,000 tons of corn. The
town was the centre of the amber trade, and the main
outlet for the agricultural produce of East Prussia.
Its timber trade, though still large, was somewhat
declining in the last years before the war ; and its
general commerce was suffering from the competition
of the Baltic ports of Russia.
Pillau lost much of its importance after the opening
of the Konigsberg Ship Canal. The Pillau Deep,
a fortified channel protected by moles, which forms
the entrance to the Frische Haff, is 328 yds. wide and
has a minimum depth of 27 ft. ; it is kept open in

i^sia ] PORTS (DANZIG) 41
winter by ice-breakers. The port has two docks, and
can accommodate vessels of 1,500 tons.
The port of Elbing stands on a narrow gulf leading
into the Frische Haff, which varies in depth from
7 ft. to 15 ft. The harbour is small and about 10 ft.
deep, with wharfage 1,370 yds. in length, the approach
to it being protected by a mole over a mile long. It
is ice-bound for about nine weeks in the year. The
town of Elbing lies about 2| miles inland, up the
Elbing river.
The deep-water port of Danzig (population, 182,000)
is Neufahrwasser, which is formed by a canal and
a basin close to the most westerly mouth of the Vistula.
The canal, known as the Hafen Canal, is 24 ft. deep ;
and the section of it which is used as a harbour is
about 65 yds. wide and a mile long. Just within the
entrance is an inner harbour, the Freihafen, 26 ft. deep
and 13^ acres in extent, which was opened in 1900
as a duty-free area. From a point on the Vistula
about a mile and a half above Neufahrwasser, an
artificial channel has been cut to Danzig town. This
channel, known as the Kaiserhafen, is from 100 to
200 yds. wide. Between the Kaiserhafen and the
circuitous course of the ' Dead ' Vistula is situated
Holm Island, on which are the Imperial and Schichau
dockyards, and a number of steel works and wharves.
Just opposite the southern end of the Kaiserhafen is
the confluence of the ' Dead ' Vistula and the Mottlau.
The latter river, in its course through the town, is
11 ft. deep; its banks are lined by granaries and
elevators. The steamship route from Danzig to the
sea is seldom closed by ice; and vessels drawing as
much as 13 ft. can moor at the quays in the town.
The port is well supplied with facilities for loading and
repairing ships.
Volume of Trade.— The following table shows the
number and total tonnage of the loaded vessels enter-

42 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [»°39
ing the four largest ports of "East and West Prussia in
1906, 1909, and 1912 :

Memel.

Konigsberg.

Number.

Tonnage.

Number. Tonnage.

1906

685

139,644

1,627 450,594

1909

1,387

198,709

1,872 562,517

1912

2,769

210,312

1,885 534,513

Pillau.
Danzig (Neufahrwasser).
Number.
Tonnage.
Number. Tonnage.
1906
239
121,865
2,246 678,397
1909
209
1.08,967
2,444 702,273
1912
227
107,973
3,079 785,958
The only port where traffic was expanding satis
factorily was Memel. At Danzig it was indeed growing,
but whereas statistics of the tonnage entering German
ports in 1908 show that Danzig ranked seventh in this
respect, by 1912 it had lost this position to Lubeck,
and there seemed every prospect that it would shortly
have to surrender the eighth place to Emden.
From the table in the Appendix (p. 63), which shows
the nationality of the vessels which in 1911 visited the
chief ports of East and West Prussia, it appears that,
exclusive of Scandinavia, the interest of the United
Kingdom in the overseas trade of these provinces ex
ceeded that of any other country of Western Europe.
Future Development of Danzig. — While the total
tonnage visiting Danzig was slowly increasing in the
last years before the war, the trade of the port was
declining — a process which was specially remarkable
in view of the rapid growth of trade at most other
German ports. A further diminution was threatened
by the widespread advocacy of a general lowering of
freights on the German railways, which would have
strengthened the tendency for the trade of eastern
Germany and neighbouring regions to flow to Hamburg
and Bremen. The decay of Danzig was due to various
causes. For one thing, Russia had recently improved
her railway communications with her own Baltic ports,
Avhile direct railway traffic between Danzig and Russian
fcS&T-] PORTS; SHIPPING 43
was still limited to the one line through Soldau and
Mlawa. Even more detrimental to Danzig was the fact
that the frontiers and the main railway routes of the
kingdom of Prussia have been determined by politics
much more than by geography. Thus the basin of the
Vistula has been broken up by political boundaries;
and the railways which serve it have rendered the
disruption still more complete. Hence Danzig has
gained but little by the development of its hinterland,
whose trade, which would naturally follow the Vistula,
is now diverted. The distance between Danzig and
Przemysl in Galicia is 350 miles, but before the war
the railway journey between the two could not be
accomplished in less than twenty-six hours ; while
trains took only nineteen hours to cover the 625 miles
between Przemysl and Hamburg. The North Sea ports
have profited enormously by the dislocation of the
Vistula trade-route ; in 1911, for example, Hamburg
and Bremen sent 80,000 Russian emigrants to America,
and Danzig not a single one. Should, however, Danzig
become the port of an independent Poland, it would
probably recover much of the trade of the Vistula
valley, especially if its railway communications with
Central Poland were improved.
(b) Shipping Lines
The ports of East and West Prussia lie off the routes
of the largest shipping lines. Of the foreign lines which
used to call at Konigsberg and Danzig, the most
notable were Det Forenede Dampskibs Selskab, of
Copenhagen, the Leith, Hull, and Hamburg Steam
Packet Co., Ltd. (James Currie & Co., Glasgow), and
the London and Hull Line (Bailey & Leetham, Hull).
The chief ports of the two provinces were, of course,
visited by the vessels of numerous German firms
engaged in the Baltic trade.

44 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 0°-3°
(c) Telegraphic and Wireless Communications
No submarine cable touches either East or West
Prussia. Before the war the only wireless station was
at Danzig ; it "had a range of 330 nautical miles by
day, and of twice that distance by night.
(B) INDUSTRY
(1) Labour
(a) Supply of Labour
In both East and West Prussia, as in the whole of
Eastern Germany, the supply of agricultural labour is
insufficient ; for the agricultural labourers, being poorly
paid, have migrated in large numbers to the west of
Germany or other countries. Before the war many
farmers used to complain that in the busy season they
could get no labourers at all. The emigration from the
two provinces was at its height in 1881-5, and so
recently as 1898 it was considerable. In this year, out
of 66,554 labourers' houses in the Begierungsbezirk of
Konigsberg, 8,370 were empty. In the same year,
from this district alone, 15,600 labourers went t© the
west of Germany, where most found employment in
the Westphalian mines. Subsequently, however, this
movement to the mining and manufacturing areas of
Germany diminished. Emigration to foreign countries
has had a similar record. In the years 1886-90 the
average annual number of emigrants going overseas
from East Prussia was 1,950, and from West Prussia,
11,283 ; but in 1911 East Prussia sent only 390 and
West Prussia only 903. The great majority of these
emigrants went to the United States.
It is worthy of notice that just before the war the
overseas emigration from East and West Prussia was
more than balanced by the return of natives of these.

SiKin LABOUR 45
provinces from abroad. In 1914, 2,039 persons came
back to West Prussia from foreign countries. There
was also a large annual immigration of seasonal labour
from Russia and Poland.
(b) Labour Conditions
Before the war many agricultural labourers were paid
largely in kind ; and these were better off than the 'free'
labourers, who received a cash payment only. During
the twenty years previous to 1914 wages doubled in
many districts. At the end of this period, in both
East and West Prussia, a usual wage for the hind who
' hved in ' was 210-255 marks yearly, with board and
lodging valued at 350-400 marks. For a small holder
working on a larger estate a typical remuneration in
East Prussia was the following : 180 marks in cash,
one bushel of seed oats,' four bushels of seed potatoes,
two sheep on the pasture and their lambs, 10,000
blocks of turf to be dug by the labourer. Men day-
labourers got 2 marks a day and their board, women
0-60 to 0-90 mark and their board.
In East Prussia, just before the war, the pay of
artisans, was considerably higher than that of agricul
tural labourers. Workers in the amber mines got from
310 marks to 5-24 marks a day, bricklayers 4-30 marks,
smiths 2-75 marks, and bakers 2-50 marks, For women
engaged in industries other than agriculture an average
daily wage was 1-20-1-80 marks in the district of Konigs
berg in East Prussia, and 1-30-2 marks in West Prussia.
In general, wages appear to have been rather higher in
West Prussia than in East Prussia.
(2) Agriculture
(a) Products of Commercial Value
In neither East nor West Prussia is the soil generally
fertile ; and the branches of agriculture which flourish

46 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [»o.39
most are the growing of fodder crops and the raising
of live-stock. Cereals and potatoes, however, cover
a large area in each province. The production of these
crops increased enormously in the generation before
the war, but the average yield per hectare remained
lower than that of the kingdom of Prussia as a whole.
Among the cereals, rye was the most successful, and
did about equally well in both provinces, the average
yield per acre being little less than that of the whole
kingdom. Oats were also grown in large quantities,
East Prussia having as a rule the larger production,
though the smaller average yield per acre. Wheat and
barley were much less popular, but well repaid culti
vation in many parts of West Prussia ; East Prussia,
however, is not generally suited to them. Both provinces
grew large quantities of potatoes, though in neither did
the average yield compare favourably with that in other
potato-growing areas of Germany.
Clover was widely grown in both provinces, the
average yield being about the same as in the whole
kingdom ; and the meadows of East and West Prussia
alike are celebrated for the abundance of their hay.
Among the other crops grown, sugar-beet did fairly
well in a few districts of West Prussia, and tobacco
was cultivated in the same province with some success.
West Prussia also grew rape, its production being
exceeded by only two provinces of the kingdom.
Flax-growing, which used to be a flourishing industry,
had declined in both provinces, as elsewhere in Ger
many. It may be mentioned here that peat-litter is
made on the moors of East and West Prussia; and
about 400 wagon-loads used to be exported annually,
largely to Austria and France.
In East Prussia, Konigsberg was the most fertile
Begierungsbezirk for all the principal crops. The Kreise
of Fischhausen and Konigsberg yielded the richest

fcS&T'l AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS -17
crops of wheat, rye, and oats, while barley did best in
the Kreise of Gerdauen and Konigsberg. Potatoes were
most successfully grown in the Kreis of Friedland.
Clover was most remunerative in the Kreis of Tilsit
(Begierungsbezirk of Gumbinnen), but yielded a good
return in most parts of the Konigsberg Begierungsbezirk.
Rye and potatoes were very widely grown in the
Begierungsbezirk of AUenstein, but did not repay
cultivation as well as in that of Konigsberg.
Of the West Prussian Kreise, those in the plain of
the Vistula are the most fertile. Before the war the
Kreis of Marienburg produced most wheat, barley, oats,
rape, and sugar-beet, that of Lobau most rye.
Stock-raising plays a prominent part in the economic
life of both provinces. East Prussia, in particular, is
celebrated for its horses, of which it used to supply
large numbers for the German army. The horse-
market at Wehlau on the Pregel was the biggest in
east Germany, and was world-renowned. The principal
horse-breeding district in the two provinces is the
Begierungsbezirk of Gumbinnen.
Statistics for 1912 show that, in proportion to their
area, both provinces possessed more horses, but fewer
cattle, sheep, and pigs, than the kingdom of Prussia as
a whole. In proportion to the population, however,
all these animals were much more numerous in East
and West Prussia than in the kingdom at large. The
raising of cattle, sheep, and pigs flourished especially
in the Begierungsbezirke of Konigsberg and Marien
werder. The numbers of the cattle and pigs in the two
provinces have greatly increased in the last forty years.
Sheep-breeding, however, has declined, as in most
parts of Germany, and in the last years before the war
was of comparatively small importance.

48 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [wo.39
(6) Methods of Cultivation
Intensive methods of cultivation are now generally
followed in the two provinces, but the time-honoured
three-field system prevailed in many parts until quite
recent years. On some estates the sum spent on wages
and on artificial manures has trebled since the beginning
of the century. (c) Forestry
In East Prussia 17-7 per cent, of the surface is under
forest, and in West Prussia 29-9 per cent. East Prussia
has less timber than any other Prussian province
except Schleswig-Holstein, but its forests are, on the
whole, more vigorously exploited than those of West
Prussia. The most thickly wooded Begierungsbezirk of
East Prussia is AUenstein, Konigsberg coming second.
In West Prussia the forests lie chiefly in the Begierungs
bezirk of Marienwerder. Coniferous trees cover 80 per
cent, of the forest area in East Prussia and 87 per cent.
in West Prussia.
In both provinces considerably more than half the
forest area belongs to the State, the rest being almost
entirely in private ownership. The amount and value
of the timber and firewood cut in the State forests in
1911 is shown in the following table :
Amount in cubic metres. Value in -marks.
Timber. Firewood. Timber. Firewood.
East Prussia 1,411,208 973,181 15,359,000 3,909,000
West Prussia 855,820 636,731 12,744,000 2,427,000
More than half the timber felled in East Prussia
belonged to the Begierungsbezirk of AUenstein ; while
that of Marienwerder produced nearly two-thirds of
the output of West Prussia.
In both provinces, especially in East Prussia, the
price of timber before the war was low, owing to the
large import of wood from Russia.

IrSssVJ FORESTRY; TENURE; FISHERIES 49
(d) Land Tenure
In 1907, 24- 1 per cent, of the cultivated land of East
Prussia belonged to holdings of less than 20 hectares,
and 38-5 per cent, to holdings of between 20 and 100
hectares. In West Prussia the corresponding per
centages were 30-6 and 32-9. Compared with Poznania
and Silesia, both East and West Prussia have a smaller
proportion of their surface occupied by holdings under
20 hectares in area, but both surpass the other two
provinces in the percentage of land divided into estates
of moderate size. But in East and West Prussia alike,
as in the whole of eastern Germany, very big estates
are numerous, though in recent times some of them
were curtailed by the Settlement Commission which
used tooperate in West Prussia andPoznania (pp. 30-31).
In East Prussia nearly all the agricultural land is
cultivated by its owners, very little being held on
lease. (3) Fisheries
The coastal fisheries of the two provinces are of
much importance. The following table shows the
weight and value of the catch in 1911 and (for the
Frische Haff and Kurische Haff) in 1913 :

1911.

1913.

Fishery.

Tons.

Marks.

Tons.

Marks.

Danziger Bueht

3,441

625,581

—



Erische Haff

1,860

1,373,200

1,779

1,576,503

Kurische Nehrung

804

137,115

—



Kurische Haff

10,733

1,457,713

10,452

2,034,295

To judge from the returns of 1911, the fishermen of
the Danziger Bucht derive most of their profits from
flounders, eels, sprats, and herrings ; and, "with the
exception of eels, the same fish yield the greater part
of the revenue of the Kurische Nehrung fisheries. In
the Frische Haff, eels and perch-pike were taken in
very large quantities during 1913. Perch-pike also

50 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS |>°.39
constituted a considerable part of the catch in the
Kurische Haff, where enormous numbers of smelts
and roach were likewise caught.
(4) Minerals
The only valuable mineral of East and West Prussia
is amber. This fossil gum is found oil the coasts,
which, especially in the Samland, have long been noted
for it. Amber occurs in rocks known as ' blue earth ',
and is particularly abundant between Briisterort and
Rantau, and at Kranz. It is collected on the seashore
in small pieces which have been broken off from the
rock by wind or wave ; and until recent times this was
the only way of obtaining it. Of late years, however,
it has also been mined with great success, the pioneers
in the enterprise being the firm of Stantien & Becker.
The first mine worked was at Palmnicken, and the
yield between 1892 and 1896 was nearly 500,000 kg.
a year. During this period the rent of land leased for
amber-mining rose from 75 to 52,000 marks per morgen
(five-eighths of an acre). In 1899 the Prussian State
took over all the amber works, including those of
Stantien & Becker, who had long controlled the
market, but permitted the town of Danzig to retain
the amber-mining rights on a short section of the
Vistula estuary, near Polsk.
Large pieces of genuine amber are very valuable,
but the average weight of a piece is only about half
a kilogram. Since 1870 a process has been in use for
fusing small pieces of amber into a homogeneous mass
which is scarcely distinguishable from a large natural
piece, such fused amber being called ambroid. Cuttings
and other scraps not devoted to this purpose are
converted into amber colophony, a kind of varnish.
Other products are oil of amber, used medicinally and

5£EuM MINERALS; MANUFACTURES 51
asa constituent of Eau de Luce, and succinic (amber)
acid, which is used in photography.
During the period 1892-6 the average annual output
of amber and its products in the two provinces con
sisted of 13,533 kg. of amber and ambroid, 140,473
kg. of amber colophony, 33,878 kg. of oil of amber,
and 5,495 kg. of succinic acid, the whole being valued
at 2,240,336 marks. The value of the annual produc
tion seems to have remained much the same during
the next ten years. (5) Manufactures
The manufactures of East and West Prussia are of
small note,, and, apart from shipbuilding and the making
of a little agricultural machinery, are dependent on
local agriculture and forestry.
Beer. — There are numerous breweries in both pro
vinces, and in 1912 East Prussia produced upwards
of 1,0.00,000 hectolitres of beer, and West Prussia
more than 650,000 hectolitres.
Ships. — Shipbuilding is an important industry at
the ports. Since 1890 the famous firm of Schichau,
originally established at Elbing and Pillau, have had
at Danzig large yards covering an area of 123 acres
and furnished with eight slips, of which the largest
measure 300 yds. by 33 yds. They supply vessels to the
North German Lloyd and the Hamburg- America Line,
and build cargo-boats for the Baltic trade and Rhine
steamers. At Elbing, where they make torpedo boats,
they have large steel smelting works, which render
them independent of other firms.
There is at Danzig another important firm, T. W.
Klawitter, which speciahzes in tank steamers for the
Caspian Sea and river boats for the Memel, as well as
in floating docks and patent slips. The Imperial
Government had large naval dockyards at Danzig.
E 2

52 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [N0.39
Spirits. — In 1912 there were in East Prussia 305
distilleries, with an output of 156,000 hectolitres, and
in East Prussia 350 distilleries, at which 271,000
hectolitres were produced. The spirits were distilled
chiefly from potatoes, but in a few districts from
molasses. Sugar. — In East and West Prussia there were in 1912
eighteen sugar factories, which worked 1,115,363 tons
of beet, and produced 158,818 tons of rawT sugar and
5,247 tons of crystal sugar. This was equal to only
one-fifth of the output of Silesia. In comparison with
the production of sugar in West Prussia that of East
Prussia is very small. In 1912 the sugar tax yielded
only 32,888 marks in East Prussia, while the amount
paid in West Prussia was 8,758,292 marks.
Wood Products and Wooden Goods. — The wood-work
ing industry of East Prussia is of considerable magni-"
tude. In 1914 there were in the province 370 saw-mills,
employing in all 7,530 hands. In Tilsit and the neigh
bourhood there were 38 steam saw-mills, and two
cellulose factories, one of which, a branch of a large
firm in Mannheim, had machinery of 8,400 horse-power.
Memel had 31 steam saw- mills, employing 2,000 hands,
a large factory where boards for cigar-boxes were made,
and a cellulose factory which belonged to a firm in
Aschaffenburg and employed 600 people. In Konigs
berg there were 12 saw-mills, with 600 hands, and no
fewer than 200 joiners' shops, which gave employment
to 2,000 workers. At the same town a company with
a capital of 600,000 marks made veneer. Konigsberg
also had two large match factories, and a cork factory
which produced 25,000,000 corks yearly.

E. and W.
Prussia

] DOMESTIC COMMERCE 53

(C) COMMERCE
(1) Domestic
(a) Principal Branches of Trade
The internal trade of East and West Prussia calls
for no special comment. Its character may be inferred
from the nature of the products and imports of the
two provinces. (b) Towns, Markets, Fairs
In 1910 East Prussia had five towns with a popula
tion of more than 20,000. Of these Konigsberg, Tilsit,
and Memel have been dealt with above (pp. 17 and 40).
AUenstein, a town of 33,077 inhabitants, had an iron
foundry and a machine factory, and manufactured
wooden articles of various kinds. At Insterburg, wliich
had a population of 31,624, there were two machine
and iron foundries, several breweries and Hour-mills,
and a flax-spinning mill.
In West Prussia, there were in 1910 three towns —
Danzig, Thorn, and Graudenz — with upwards of 20,000
inhabitants. Danzig and Thorn have already been
noticed ; Graudenz, with a population of 40,325, had
a trade in grain, wood, cattle, and horses, possessed
flour-mills and saw-mills, and manufactured baskets,
brushes, and pottery.
(c) Organizations to promote Trade and Commerce
Konigsberg, Memel, and Tilsit each have a Vor-
steheramt der Kaufmannschaft (Directorate of the Mer
chants), membership of which is voluntary and limited
to individuals. There are also chambers of commerce
at Braunsberg, AUenstein, and Insterburg. The sphere
of the AUenstein chamber comprises the whole of the
Begierungsbezirk of that name, and that of the Inster-

54 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [»«.39
burg chamber covers several Kreise in the east of the
province. The Elbing Chamber of Commerce, though
its head-quarters lie outside the province, includes
within the scope of its work three Kreise in the west
of East Prussia. Nevertheless a few Kreise, mainly in
the centre of the province, are wholly without chambers
of commerce, although in 1907 they contained nearly
11 per cent, of the trading concerns of East Prussia.
The merchants of these districts might easily have
"obtained admission into one of the existing chambers,
and that they have not done so suggests that the work
of these bodies is not highly appreciated.
In West Prussia there are chambers of commerce
at Danzig, Graudenz, and Thorn, as well as at Elbing.
(2) Foreign
No complete statistics of the external trade of either
province are available, and Avhile there are recent
returns of the weight of the exports and imports of
Konigsberg and Danzig, no information as to their
value has been issued since 1904. In that year the
exports of Konigsberg were A^alued at 216,000,000
marks, and the imports at 298,000,000 marks ; while
at Danzig the value of the exports was estimated at
95,000,000 marks, and that of the imports at 116,000,000
marks. Since then, to judge from the statistics of
quantities, the trade of both ports, and in particular
of Danzig, has declined. Figures relating to the ports,
hoAvever, throw but a partial light on the external
trade of the provinces, most of it being carried on
across the land frontiers. Moreover, such figures cover
many goods that were merely in transit to or from
Poland or other parts of the Russian Empire. It may
be pointed out here that while large quantities of goods
entered the two provinces from Russian territories,
the exports thither Avere insignificant.

ftS£Tl FOREIGN COMMERCE 55
Detailed information regarding the external trade
of East Prussia is given in a recently-published work,
Qrundlagen des Wirtschaftslebens von Oslpreussen, Jena,
1916-8, part iv. This book contains numerous statistical
tables, which, though admittedly lacking in completeness
and accuracy, give a clear impression of the character
of the trade of the province. Unfortunately, there
seems to be no similar review of the economic conditions
of West Prussia. (a) Exports
Of the exports of East Prussia the most important
before the war was wood, which was sent to other
parts of Germany and overseas in very large quantities.
It should be remembered, however, that much of the
wood exported was of Russian origin. The chief port
for the shipment of wood Avas Memel, whence in 1913,
386 vessels sailed with cargoes consisting exclusively
of wood or wooden goods, Avhile of the remaining
404 ships which left the port, 146 carried wood as
part of their freight. In this year the value of the
timber dispatched from Memel to destinations outside
East Prussia was nearly 23,000,000 marks. Konigsberg
also had a lively trade in wood, which, however,
shoAved a marked decline in the years immediately
before the war. Timber was shipped from Danzig,
but in comparatively small quantities. Much of the
wood exported by West Prussia was of Polish origin.
Both provinces exported considerable quantities of
cereals and leguminous plants. In East Prussia,
Konigsberg was the great emporium of the trade in
these products, whatever their destination might be.
There was a large export, by both rail and sea, of
wheat, rye, and oats. Konigsberg also shipped
numerous heavy consignments of peas, beans, and
lentils, but these were mainly of Russian origin.

56 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS |>-38
A good many horses and very large numbers of cattle,
sheep, and pigs were sent out of the province, almost
entirely by rail.
Among the other exports of the province may be
mentioned flax, hemp, various kinds of oil-bearing
seeds, and clover. These, however, came for the most
part from Russia. Amber, on the other hand — which
was the object of a valuable export trade — was a
genuine product of the province. But it will be seen
that the export trade in goods of native origin was
insignificant. The same may be said of West Prussia,
Avhich, in addition to cereals and leguminous products,
exported a certain amount of sugar and spirits, but
imported far more goods than it sent abroad.
Most of the exports of the two provinces naturally
went to other parts of the German Empire, within
which they were distributed over a very wide area.
A good deal of wood was sent by East Prussia to the
United Kingdom, this traffic being encouraged by the
low freight charges on English ships returning home
after discharging coal at Memel or Konigsberg. Holland
also purchased timber in some quantity.
The destinations of the cereals and leguminous pro
ducts exported varied according to the harvest in
Germany and the countries of Northern and Western
Europe. Considerable quantities of these goods left
East Prussia by sea, whether for German ports or for
foreign countries. It should be noticed that a large
proportion of the agricultural produce shipped from
Konigsberg to Holland was destined ultimately for
western Germany, the cheapness of transport by
steamer causing East Prussian merchants to prefer
this route to the direct line of railway across Germany.
In 1913 most of the wheat dispatched by East Prussia
went by rail to other German provinces, but two years
before there had been a large export to Norway. The

Prussia ¦] EXPORTS AND IMPORTS 57
rye exported in 1913 went mainly by sea. A large
quantity was shipped to Holland, whence most of it
was probably forwarded to western Germany ; Norway
and Sweden were also important purchasers of rye ;
and Great Britain took 3,700 tons. By rail a small
amount went to Poland. In 1911 large quantities
were taken by Russia, but it appears that in most
years the surplus rye of East Prussia found its principal
market in Germany. Little barley was exported, and
hardly any went to foreign countries. Oats, on the
other hand, held a conspicuous place in the list of
exports. Other German provinces took considerable
quantities ; a good deal was sent to the United King
dom ; while in 1913 France, and in 1911 Sweden,
received large supplies. For peas, which were exported
mainly by sea, the chief markets, after Germany itself,
were Great Britain, America, Sweden, Norway, and
Prance. The other exports of the province went for
the most part to destinations within the German
Empire. (b) Imports
In the period immediately preceding the war, the
imports of East and West Prussia greatly exceeded
the exports, both in weight and in value. The two
provinces were almost entirely dependent on outside
sources for everything except the products of local
agriculture and forestry. Some of these, indeed, could
not meet the home demand. Thus, East Prussia had
to import considerable quantities of peas, clover,
barley, and potatoes, though a large proportion of the
peas and clover was subsequently re-exported. Wood,
too, was imported in large quantities, principally
through Schmalleningken on the Memel and Thorn on
the Vistula. From the Russian Empire, East Prussia
received 2,074,000 cubic metres in 1912 and 2,212,323

58 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [no. 39
cubic metres in 1913. In 1912, 712,000 tons of goods
entered West Prussia via Thorn, and while detailed
statistics of this traffic are not available, it may be
inferred from the records of previous years that timber
accounted for 80 or even 90 per cent, of it. Most of
the wood imported was consumed within the provinces,
whose forests cannot satisfy the needs of the local
wood-working industries ; but, as was indicated above,
much of it was destined for re-export. Before the war
the construction of a large timber-harbour at Tilsit
was contemplated — a scheme encouraged by the
owners of saw-mills and the manufacturers of wooden
goods, who viewed with concern the growing tendency
of the Russians to work their own timber, but opposed
by those interested in the exploitation of East Prussian
forests. The river and canal system of East Prussia
has proved of great service in the development of the
timber trade.
Coal was naturally one of the most notable imports
of each province, a large amount entering both by rail
and by sea. Accessories of agriculture, such as artificial
manures and feeding-stuffs, were imported in large
quantities. Colonial goods, metals, and manufactured
articles of many kinds naturally figured conspicuously
in the list of imports. Konigsberg and Danzig received
a considerable amount of mineral oil, and Danzig
imported a good deal of salt. Among the imported
food-stuffs, herrings and lentils deserve special mention;
the latter, however, were largely re-exported.
The original source of the imports of the two pro
vinces can seldom be ascertained. The imported wood
came almost exclusively from Russia or Poland. The
coal arriving in East Prussia by rail — more than two-
thirds of the total import in 1913 — was nearly all
supplied by Silesia. The United Kingdom used to
stand second among the sources of the coal consumed

&S£r] IMPORTS ; COMMERCIAL TREATIES 59
in East Prussia ; but in 1913, owing to a rise in the
price of British coal, about half the supplies brought
thither by sea came from the Rhenish-Westphalian
field. The cereals, vegetables, and clover imported by
East Prussia were mostly of Russian origin, though
other German provinces supplied large quantities of
barley and potatoes. Salted herrings came principally
from Great Britain. The origin of the colonial goods
seldom appears, as even when brought to East or West
Prussia by sea, their immediate source was commonly
some German port. Petroleum and other mineral oils
were obtained from the United States and Austrian
territories, Russia supplying comparatively little. Arti
ficial fertilizers, whatever their primary source, usually
arrived via Germany. Manufactured goods were sup
plied chiefly by the industrial areas of the German
Empire ; but there are no published figures which
render possible even an approximate estimate of the
amounts derived from foreign countries.
(c) Commercial Treaties
Certain of the commercial treaties concluded by the
German Empire were of special interest to East and
West Prussia. Of particular moment to these provinces
was the arrangement with Russia for the establish
ment of the so-called Vistula Association Tariff,
whereby freight charges from western Russia to
Konigsberg and Danzig were fixed. This tariff first
came into force in 1876, but was repeatedly modified
between that date and 1905, when Germany and Russia
concluded a commercial treaty which, so far as this
question was concerned, remained operative until the
beginning of the war. The general object of the tariff
was to ensure that Danzig, Konigsberg, and the Baltic
ports of Russia should have a fair share of the trade

60 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [no. 39
of those districts which they naturally served. To
effect this higher rates were charged on goods going
to Danzig than on those for Konigsberg.
The import of timber was also subject to special
regulations which greatly influenced East and West
Prussia. It was complained by those interested in saw
mills that unworked timber from abroad was taxed
too heavily, and worked timber too lightly. There
was, however, no duty on firewood or wood for the
production of cellulose and wood pulp.

(D) FINANCE
(1) Public Finance
In 1912-13 the taxes levied by the provincial
authorities of East Prussia amounted, on an average,
to 1-28 marks per head of the population, and the
standing debt of the province represented a liability
of 10-09 marks per head. Inhabitants of rural circles
paid to the local government, on an average, 4-69
marks in direct, and 1-77 marks in indirect, taxes.
The average standing debt of the rural circles amounted
to 2403 marks per inhabitant. For the towns, the
corresponding figures were 25-24 marks, 3-34 marks,
and 23705 marks.
The provincial government of West Prussia collected,
on an average, 1-42 marks per head in direct taxes,
and had a standing debt equivalent to 11-17 marks
per head. In the rural circles, direct taxes averaged
4-26 marks per head, indirect taxes 1-36 marks, and the
standing debt 28-65 marks. For rural communes with
more than 10,000 inhabitants the corresponding figures
were 13-22 marks, 2-32 marks, and 140-22 marks ; for
towns they were 23-25 marks, 2-28 marks, and 172-76
marks.

SiSSun TAXES; BANKING 61
(2) Banking
Before the war the principal banks operating in
East and West Prussia were the following :
The Beichsbank, which had branches in the chief
towns. The Ostbank fur Handel und Gewerbe, with its head
quarters at Posen and several branches in East and
West Prussia. Share capital, 27,000,000 marks ;
reserve funds, 4,000,000 marks ; dividend in 1913,
7 per cent.
The Norddeutsche Kreditanstalt, with its head office at
Konigsberg, and branches and agencies in Poznania and
Pomerania, as well as in East and West Prussia.
Share capital, 24,000,000 marks ; reserve funds,
3,600,000 marks ; dividend in 1912, 7 per cent.
The Konigsberger Vereins-Bank, which operated only
in East Prussia. Share capital, 10,000,000 marks ;
reserve funds, 2,000,000 marks ; dividend in 1912,
7 per cent.
The Danziger Privat-Aktien-Bank. Share capital,
14,000,000 marks ; reserve funds, 3,476,000 marks ;
dividend in 1912, 1\ per cent.
There were three important land mortgage banks :
the Bank der Ostpreussischen Landschaft (which had
advanced 483,000,000 marks), the Bank der West-
preussischen Landschaft (which.h.a,deLdvsbiLcedl21 ,000,000
marks), and the Bank der. neuen Westpreussischen
Landschaft (which had advanced 229,000,000 marks).
Savings banks were numerous and popular in each
province, but credit and co-operative societies, though
fairly successful, were distinctly less flourishing than
in Poznania.

62 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [no. 39
(E) GENERAL REMARKS
The political future of East and West Prussia is so
uncertain that little can at present be said about their
economic prospects. The lack of minerals makes it
unlikely that either region will ever see much develop
ment of its manufacturing industries. Despite recent
improvements in methods of cultivation, the' average
yield of cereals and other vegetable food-crops has not
increased as rapidly in East and West Prussia as in
the kingdom at large ; and in most parts of the two
provinces agriculturists would probably be well advised
to concentrate their attention on the growing of
fodder crops and the raising of live-stock. More might
be made of the forests, but the wood-working industries
will remain largely dependent on supplies from what
at present are foreign sources. Emphasis has aheady
been laid on the need for new canals and railways;
and the possibility of reviving the trade of Danzig has
been already discussed (see above, p. 42). But the future
of trade in the area under review must remain quite
uncertain until the political frontiers of eastern Germany
are settled, and, for that matter, until stable conditions
again prevail in western Russia.

APPENDIX
NUMBER, TONNAGE, AND NATIONALITY OF THE LOADED SfflPS ENTERING
THE CHIEF PORTS OF EAST AND WEST PRUSSIA IN 1911
Flag.
NorwegianDanishBritishSwedish. DutchRussianBelgian
Spanish French Total of foreign ships
German ships

Memel.

Pillau.

Konigsberg.

Danzig.

Total.

Number.

Tonnage.

Number.

Tonnage.

Number,

Tonnage.

Number.

Tonnage.

Number.

Tonnage.

29

20,163

19

14,920

155

68,440

163

77,959

366

181,482

25

• 22,219

24

11,241

361

75,004

209

57,117

619

165,581

4

8,001

20

12,747

95

55,755

98

69,168

217

145,671

14

9,432

20

14.100

217

36,731

192

57,426

443

117,689

18

2,569

1

87

132

42,283

67

28,878

218

73,817

(3

840

3

1,470

25

14,536

34

16,846

1

1,268

0

6,034

3

3,559

2 1

1,548 1,778

12 1

12,409 1,778

—

—

90

—

1
967

652
283,894

757

308,410

1
1,911

652

97

64.492

59,129

715,925

2,448

149^52

206

55,117

1,084

297,973

2,065

451,502

5,803

953,644

Total of all shipping 2,545 213,544 296

114,246 2,051 581,867 2,822 759,912 7,714 1,669,569

MM >i •
tt
m pi

CT.

64 [no.

39

AUTHORITIES Historical
Bulow, Prince B. H. M. C. von. Imperial Germany. (Trans
lated by M. A. Lewenz.) London, 1914.
Dawson, W. H. Municipal Life and. Government in Germany.
London, 1914. Second edition, 1916.
Hildebrand, E., and others. Sveriges Historia. Stockholm,
1903-10.
Koser, R. Konig Friedrich der Grosse. 2 vols. Stuttgart and
Berlin, 1893-1903.
Lohmeyer, C. H. Geschichte von Ost- und Westpreussen.
Gotha, 1908.
Mttller, D. Geschichte des Deutschen Volkes. Berlin, 1892.
PhilipPson, M. Der Grosse Kurfiirst. 3 pts. Berlin, 1897-
1903.
Prtjtz, H. G. Preussische Geschichte. 4 vols. Stuttgart,
1900-02.
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