Cost of living in German towns

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Multivolume work

Identifikator:: 1818395479

Document type:: Multivolume work

Author:: Marx, Karl http://d-nb.info/gnd/118578537; Engels, Friedrich http://d-nb.info/gnd/118530380

Title:: Historisch-kritische Gesamtausgabe

Place of publication:: Frankfurt a.M.

Publisher:: Marx-Engels-Archiv

Year of publication:: 1927-

Collection:: Economics Books

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Volume

Identifikator:: 1818396394

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-205987

Document type:: Volume

Author:: Marx, Karl http://d-nb.info/gnd/118578537; Engels, Friedrich http://d-nb.info/gnd/118530380

Title:: Der Briefwechsel zwischen Marx und Engels 1861-1867 / herausgegeben von D. Rjazanov

Volume count:: Abt. 3, Briefwechsel, Bd. 3

Place of publication:: Berlin

Publisher:: Marx-Engels-Verlag G. M. B. H.

Year of publication:: 1930

Scope:: XXIII, 488 Seiten

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Multivolume work

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: 1866

Collection:: Economics Books

DANTZIG. Dantzig is the natural sea outlet for the produce of an area more than twice the size of Ireland, drained by the Vistula, a river 650 miles in length, but of which only about 160 miles are in German, the remainder being in Russian and Austrian, territory. In former times the town actually occupied the position of shipping port for the produce of the whole of this area, but since the develop ment of the Russian railway system, the greater part of the Russian produce previously exported from Dantzig has been diverted to the ports of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. As the Vistula approaches the Baltic Sea it breaks up into a number of sluggish streams which flow through a delta of marshy land known as the Werder, about 35 miles wide on the Baltic shore. The main river, which reaches the sea on the western side of the delta, receives from the same side the Mottlau, a comparatively insignificant stream, and on this tributary, close to its junction with the Vistula, stands Dantzig, since 1878 the capital of the province of West Prussia. Until recent years Dantzig was somewhat off the main system of the Prussian State railways, a disadvantage which has now in some measure been remedied by the construction of two lines, one to Dirschau, 18 miles to the south-east, by which the port has been connected with the direct route between Berlin and St. Petersburg, and the other to Stettin, which links Dantzig with the rising towns of the north-west coast, and with the manufacturing centres of the Rhineland. The forwarding trade of Dantzig depends largely for its profit upon the Vistula as one of the cheapest means of transport. For this reason the regulation of the stream, from the point at which it enters Prussian territory, receives the most careful attention. Complaints have, however, arisen long since as to the condition of those parts of the river which flow through Russian and Austrian territory, where navigation is said to be rendered more difficult every year by the sandbanks which are allowed to form in the channel. As far back as in 1875 the Dantzig merchants endeavoured to get the governments of Germany, Russia and Austria to join in a mutual scheme of regulation ; but the effort was unsuccessful. These facts, combined with the lowness of water in the summer months, and the enforced idleness caused by frosts in winter, are resulting in much of the goods which were formerly transported by river being taken by the railway. Nevertheless, the traffic by the Vistula is still very considerable, the chief commodities forwarded downstream (apart from large quantities of timber floated down in rafts) being sugar and syrup, building materials, mill products and corn ; while in the other direction coal, stone and stonewares, sugar, metals and metalwork, salt and petroleum are the most important articles conveyed. The import trade of the town is concerned chiefly with articles of daily consumption, among which herrings and coal from the United Kingdom, and petroleum from the United States are the most important. British coal has a serious competitor in the product of the Silesian mines, of which large quantities are brought to Dantzig by rail and river. The importation of iron ore from Sweden for the use of the Upper Silesian works was begun in 1892 with 2,000 tons. By 1904 this figure had increased to 118,911 tons, and in 1905 the total imported and forwarded up-country was 183,148 tons. The staple exports of Dantzig are agricultural produce and timber. Among the former, corn occupies a prominent position, though its importance is declining in favour of other produce, more especially beet for the manufacture of sugar. The total exports of sugar from the port in 1905 amounted to 156,400 tons, of which 62,853 tons went to the United Kingdom. The portion of the trade of Dantzig which has varied least for the last 500 years is that of timber. Large rafts of pine, fir and oak trunks still come down the Vistula, though here

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