promoted by the commercial and fiscal policies of his government.
he chief industrial districts are, of course, those which yield
coal, with, in addition, the great cities-Berlin, Magdeburg, Hanover,
Breslau, Gorlitz, Stettin, Essen, Dortmund, Elberfeld-Barhien,
Dusseldorf, Cologne, Aix-la-Chapelle, Crefeld, Halle, Hanover,
Frankfort-on-Main, Saarbrücken, Hochst, Solingen, Remscheid,
Hagen, Konigsberg, Danzig and many others. The iron and metal
industries, especially the making of machinery, electrical plant,
tramway plant, and the production of articles in wrought copper
and brass, rank in the forefront. In these branches Berlin, and
more lately its suburbs, as well as Magdeburg and Cologne, have
played an active r6le, though the old centres of the metallur ical
and iron and steel industries in the Rhine province and “Westphalia
have also expanded in an extraordinary degree. The growth
of the chemical industries, which are essentially a erman speciality,
must also be mentioned in the front rank. The branches in which
this supremacy stands unrivalled are those which produce aniline
dyes, artificial indigo, illuminant's (acetylene gas, Welsbach mantles,
&c.), explosives, various chemical salts, pharmaceutical preparations,
cellulose, glycerin, artificial (chemical) manures, and perfumes.
A third branch of industry in which German genius has
won triumphs of the highest kind is shipbuilding.
Constitution.-The present constitution of Prussia was framed
by the government of King Frederick William IV., with the c0operation
of a constituent assembly, and was proclaimed on the
31st of January 1850. It consists of an hereditary monarchy with
two houses of parliament and was subsequently modified by various
enactments, notably that of the 12th of October 1854, reconstituting
the upper chamber. The constitution affirms the legal equality
of all citizens in the eye of the law, provides for universal military
service, and guarantees the personal liberty of the subject, the
security of property, immunity from domiciliary visits, the inviolability
of letters, toleration of religious sects, freedom of the
press, the right of association and public meetings, and liberty
of migration.
The monarchy is hereditary in the male line of the house of Hohenzollern, and follows the custom of primogeniture. The king alone exercises the executive power, has the supreme command of the army, and is head of the Church, but shares the legislative power with his parliament. He appoints and discharges the ministers and other officials of the Crown, summons and dissolves parliament, possesses the right of pardon and mitigation of punishment, declares war and concludes peace, confers orders and titles and conducts the foreign policy of the country, though this prerogative has now, constitutionally speakin, passed from the king of Prussia to the German emperor. He is hefd to be irresponsible for his public actions, and his decrees require the countersign of a minister, whose responsibility, however, is not very clearly defined. The national tradition and feeling lend the Crown considerable power not formulated in the constitution, and the king is permitted to bring his personal influence to bear upon parliament in a way quite at variance with the English conception of a constitutional monarch. The annual civil list of the king of Prussia amounts to £770,554 The legislative assembly or Landtag, consists of two chambers, which are corrvokcd annually at the same time but meet separately. The right of proposing new measures belongs equally to the king and each of the chambers, but the consent of all three is necessary before a measure can pass into law. The chambers have control of the finances and possess the right of voting or refusing taxes. Financial questions are first discussed in the lower house, and the upper house can accept or reject the annual budget only en bloc. All measures are passed by an absolute majority, but those affecting the constitution must be submitted to a second vote after an interval of at least twenty-one days. Members may not be called to account for their parliamentary utterances except by the chamber in which they sit. No one may at the same time be a member of both chambers. The ministers of the Crown have access to both chambers and may speak at any time, but they do not vote unless they are actually members. The sittings of both chambers are public.
The general scheme of government, though constitutional, is not exactly “ parliamentary " in the English sense of the word, as the ministers are independent of party and need not necessarily represent the opinions of the parliamentary majority. The Herrenhaus, or house of peers, contains two classes of members, the hereditary and non-hereditary. The former consists of the adult princes of the house of Hohenzollern, the mediatized princes and counts of the old imperial nobility, and the heads of the great territorial nobility. The non-hereditary members are chosen for life by the king from the ranks of the rich landowners, manufacturers and men of general eminence, and representatives “ presented " for the king's approval by the landowners of the eight old provinces, by the larger towns and by the universities. Every member of the Herren aus must be specially summoned by the king. The Abgeordnelenhaus or chamber of deputies, consists of 453 members. elected See Dr Frederick Rose, Chemical Instruction and Chemical Industries in Germany (1901-1902), being Nos. 561 and 573 of the “ Miscellaneous Series of British Diplomatic and Consular Reports." for periods of five years by indirect suffrage, exercised by all male citizens who have reached the age of twenty-five and have not forfeited their communal rights. The original electors are arranged in three classes, according to the rate of taxes paid by them, in such a way that the gross amount of taxation is equal in each class. The country is accordingly divided into electoral districts, with the electors grouped in three categories, each of which selects a Wahlmann or electoral proxy, who exercises the direct suffrage. Members of the lower house must be thirty years old and in full possession of their civic rights. They receive a daily allowance (Didten) of fifteen shillings during the sitting of the house, and travelling expenses.
The king exercises his executive functions through an irresponsible Staalsral, or privy council, revived in 1884 after thirty years of inactivity, and by a nominally responsible cabinet or council of ministers (Staats-Ministerium). The latter consists of the president and minister of foreign affairs, and ministers of War, justice, finance, the interior, public worship and instruction, industry and commerce, public works and agriculture, domains and forests. Ministers conduct the affairs of their special departments independently, but meet in council for the discussion of general questions. They represent the executive in the houses of parliament and introduce the measures proposed by the Crown, but do not need to belong to either chamber. The affairs of the royal household and priv purse are entrusted to a special minister, who is not a member oflthe cabinet.
The Prussian governmental system is somewhat complicated by its relation to that of the empire. The king of Prussia is at the same time German emperor, and his rime minister is also the imperial chancellor. The ministries ofp war and foreign affairs practically coincide with those of the empire, and the custom-dues and the postal and telegraph service have also been transferred to the imperial government. Prussia has only seventeen votes in the federal council, or less than a third of the total number, but its influence is practically assured by the fact that the small northern states almost invariably vote with it. To the Reichstag Prussia sends more than half the members. The double parliamentary system works in some respects inconveniently, as the Reichstag and Prussian Landtag are often in session at the same time, and many persons are members of both. Where imperial and Prussian legislation come into conflict the latter must give way. Local Government.-For administrative purposes Prussia is divided into fourteen Provinzen or provinces, Regierungsbezirke or governmental departments, .Stadtkreise or urban districts (circles), and Landkreise or rural districts. The city of Berlin and the district of Hohenzollern form provinces by themselves. Recent legislation has aimed at the encouragement of local government and the decentralization of administrative authority by admitting lay or popularly elected members to a share in the administration alongside of the government officials. Certain branches of administration, such as the care of roads and the poor, have been handed over entirely to local authorities, while a share is allowed them in all. In the province the government is represented by the Oberprdsident, whose jurisdiction extends over all matters affecting more than one department. He is assisted by a council (Provinzialrat) consisting, besides himself as chairman, of one member appointed by government and five members elected by the provincial committee (Provinzialausschuss). The latter forms the permanent executive of the provincial diet (Provinzial-Landtag), which consists of deputies elected by the kreise or circles, and forms the chief provincial organ of local government. The Re ierungsbezirk is solely a government division and is only indirectly represented in the scheme of local administration. The government authorities are the Regierungs-Prdsident, who is at the head of the general internal administration of the department, and the Regierung or government board, which supervises ecclesiastical and educational affairs and exercises the function of the state in regard to the direct taxes and the domains and forests. The departmental president is also assisted by a Bezirksrat or district council, consisting of one official member and four others selected from inhabitants of the department by the provincial committee. Each Landkreis has a Landrat, an office which existed in the mark of Brandenburg as early as the 16th century. He is aided by the Kreissausschuss, or executive committee of the Kreistag (the diet of the circle). The Landkreise include towns having less than 2(5;, OO0 inhabitants, rural communes (La.mlgemeinden)' and manors (utsbezirke). Stadtkreise are towns with more than 25,000 inhabitants; they have each a town council (Stadtverordnetenver sammlung) elected on a three-class property suffrage. The practical executive is entrusted to the magistracy (Magistrat), which usually consists of a burgomaster, a deputy burgomaster (both paid officials), several unpaid members, and, where necessary, a few other paid members. The unpaid members hold office for sixuyears; the paid members are elected for twelve years, and their election requires ratification from the state.
Justice.-Down to the 1st of January 1900 (when the German civil code-Biirgerlliches Gesetzbuch-was introduced) a threefold system of civil law had prevailed in Prussia, viz. the common law of Prussia (Lamirecht), codified in 1794, in eastern and central
