Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

NOTEBOOK “θ”

(“THETA”)


RIESSER, GERMAN BIG BANKS AND THEIR CONCENTRATION

Dr. Riesser, German Big Banks and Their Concentration in Connection with Germany’s Economic Development, 3rd edition, Jena, 1910.

(Some figures, but not all, added from the fourth edition, 1912.)

The German electrical industry prior to 1900 (before the 1900 crisis, caused largely by over-production in the electrical industry) (Riesser, 3rd edition, p. 542 et seq.)[1]:

Seven groups (with 27 (sic!!) individual companies):

Community
of interests
1902-03.
Fusion
1904
11— I. Siemens and
Halske group
(4 companies)






 
|
|
}
|
|
1903 merger
Siemens-
Schuckert
group
 
{
8— II. A.E.G. group
(4 companies)
8— III. Schuckert
group (4 compa-
nies)
1908 “Co-operation”—establishment
of Elektro-Treuhand-Gesellschaft
with a capital of 30,000,000 marks
6— IV. Union-Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft
group (2 companies)
9— V. Helios group (“went into liquidation”:
p. 582, 4th edition) (5 companies)
2— VII. Lahmeyer group, in 1910 majority
of shares held by A.E.G. (p. 583,
4th edition) (2 companies)
8— VI. Kummer group—failed in 1900
(7 companies)
many
repetitions
 7 groups

[Total companies = 28, and not 27 as given by Riesser, p. 542 (p. 582, 4th edition). On p. 568 he, too, says: 28 companies)

Results of concentration process (p. 568 et seq.).

“The most modern of our industries” is the
electrical ... seven groups, with a total
 of 28 companies belonging to concerns....
Chemical industry ... two chief groups (see
 below)
Mining industry—two syndicates (Steel
 Association; Rhine-Westphalian Coal Syn-
 dicate)....
Shippingtwo companies (Hamburg-Amer-
 ica Steamship Co. (Hapag); and North-
 German Lloyd, “which are connected with
 each other and with an Anglo-American
 trust by a series of agreements”)....
Bankingfive groups (“embracing in all
41 banks belonging to concerns”).
Now
2

2

2


2




5
=
13
18 groups, my total my
total

Increase in the number of common-interest associations between big and provincial banks (p. 505).

Growth of concentration (p. 542, 4th edition):

1881—  1 1908— 32 (41)
1895—  2 1911— 26 (46)
1902— 18

(Riesser, p. 547 et seq.)

German chemical industry
(concentration)[2]

Share
capital
(my
totals)
I.













 
Farbwerke,
formerly
Meister,
Lucius
& Brüning
in Höchst-
am-Main
Leopold
Cassella and
Co. in Frank-
furt-am-
Main
 

 
 
Share capi-
tal—20
loan capi-
tal—10
 

 
 












(“Dual
alli-
ance”)
1904
“asso-
ciation”
Exchange
of
shares,
inter-
locking
direc-
tor-
ships















(“Triple
alli-
ance”)
 
 
1908
(ex-
change
of
shares)
20
 
 
 
 
20
 
 
 
 
 
3
< million
marks
>
 

 
share capi-
tal—20
loan capi-
tal—10
 

 
Kalle & Co. (in Biebrich-on-Rhine (3.2)
43
II.











Badische Anilin-und Soda-
Fabrik in Ludwigshafen
(share capital 21 million
marks).
Farbenfabrik, formerly
Friedrich Bayer and Co. in
Elberfeld (21 million
marks).
Aktiengesellschaft für Ani-
linfabrikation in Treptow
near Berlin (share capital
9 million marks).










1904
associ-
ation












1905
“Triple
alli-
ance



21


21
A “coming together” of groups
I and II has already begun
in the form of “agreements”
on prices, etc.
 43%
 43%
 14%
 9
100%
profit
51


p. 560 et seq.: “Mining industry.”

Two names: August Thyssen and Hugo Stinnes. Their gigantic and growing role (in the coal and iron industries).[19]

...“The common-interest agreement concluded on Ja-
nuary 1, 1905 between the Gelsenkirchen Bergwerks, the
Aachen Hütten-Verein Rote Erde and Thyssen’s Schalker
Gruben und Hütten-Verein united in a joint enterprise
a number of competing banks, viz. the Discontogesell-
schaft, the Deutsche Bank, the Dresdner Bank and the
Schaaffhausenscher Bankverein, but, at the same time,
further increased the power of Hugo Stinnes and August
Thyssen, who became members of the ‘joint committee’
of the new association” (p. 563) (p. 603 in the fourth edition).

(p. 577) idem, p. 624, fourth edition.
1882—28 banks with 50 or > employees: 2,697 employees
-11.8% of the total
1895—66 banks with 50 or > employees: 7,802 employees
-21.6%
+ 189.3% { up to 5 employees+59.9% }
 6-50  employees+34.5%

1907 probably about 1/3

Deutsche Bank 1907— 4,439 bank employees (p. 578)
1908— 4,860 ”   ”

“I estimate the number of bank officials in the six big Berlin banks at 18,000 at the end of 1910” (p. 625, fourth edition).

Riesser’s book ends with a polemic against the socialists, upholds the official view and preaches harmony (in general, Riesser is like that):

Even the predicted socialisation “has not mate-
rialised” (p. 585).
{ ha-
ha!!
}

p. 582 (p. 629, fourth edition):

Banks and the Stock Exchange” (Riesser’s italics):

“As regards the effect of the process of concentration on the functions and structure of the Stock Exchange, it is a fact that, with the influx of commissions to the big banks the latter to a certain extent take over the functions of the Stock exchange by counter-balancing purchase and sale commissions, handing over to the Stock Exchange only commissions that do not counter-balance one another. This applies equally to trade in securities, i.e., to the capital market, and discounting operations, i.e., to the money market.

“As a result, the Stock Exchange, already greatly disorganised by the Stock-Exchange laws, is increasingly deprived of the materials indispensable for correctly fixing current prices. It is thus further weakened, and this can have very dangerous consequences, especially at critical times, as bad examples have proved (note: in the recent period one can point to the day of the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese war).

“It follows also that the Stock Exchange is steadily
losing the feature which is absolutely essential for
national economy as a whole and for the circulation
of securities in particular—that of being not only
a most exact measuring-rod, but also an ‘almost
automatic regulator of the economic movements which
converge on it’”[3] (Note. Quotations from Riesser: The
Need for Revision of the Stock-Exchange Law
, Berlin,
1901), and that it is proving less and less able,
to express, and control, “through price fluctuations,
general public opinion on the credit-worthiness and
administration of the majority of states, municipali-
ties, joint-stock companies and corporations.
N.B.
“In this way, Stock-Exchange establishment and
quotation of current prices
, which previously gave,
as far as this is attainable, a faithful picture of
‘economic processes nowhere else summed so reliably,
and nowhere else so recognisable in their totality’,
consequently, a picture of supply and demand, must
now lose both in accuracy and in stability and relia-
bility, which is extremely regrettable in the
public interest.
“In addition, it is to be feared that this tendency,
which increasingly leads to exclusion of intermediaries
(brokers, etc.), may produce an ever sharper cont-
radiction between the banks and the Stock Exchange
,
and this may be very serious. This contradiction,
moreover, would be expressed not only in a certain
tension, already noticeable between the banks and
other circles interested in the Stock Exchange, but
also in the latter’s most fundamental field of activity,
namely, the establishment of current prices.
“Actually, today even among experts the concepts
bank and Stock Exchange, which some consider,
quite wrongly, to be completely equivalent, [note:
that is the view of Eschenbach in the Transactions
of the Union for Social Politics
of September 16, 1903:
Schriften des Vereins für Sozialpolitik, Vol. CXIII]
are in many cases termed direct opposites, which
is also quite wrong” (note: cf. Ernst Loeb in the Natio-
nalzeitung
of April 18, 1904, No. 244) (p. 583) (p. 630,
fourth edition).

Riesser (3rd edition 1910), p. 499:
Increase in capital of the biggest (in 1908) banks

Germany[4] 1870 1908 1911
1. Deutsche Bank . . . . . . . . . . 15   200 200
2. Dresdner Bank . . . . . . . . . . 9.6 180 200
3. Discontogesellschaft . . . . . . . . . . 30   170 200
4. Darmstädter Bank . . . . . . . . . . 25.8 154 160
Σ (million marks) . . . . . . . . . . 80.4 704
Schaaffhausenscher Bankverein . . . . . . 15.6 145 145
Berliner Handels-gesellschaft . . . . . . 16.8 110 110
ΣΣ= 112.8 959 1,015
France 1870 1908
1. Crédit Lyonnais . . . . . . . . . .  20 250
2. Comptoir National . . . . . . . . . .  50 150
3. Crédit industriel . . . . . . . . . .  15 100
4. Société Générale . . . . . . . . . .  60 300
Σ (million francs) . . . . . . . . . . 145 800
=mill. marks 116 640
three biggest banks: Germany:   54.6  550 (marks)
France:  130  700 (francs)
(104  560(marks))
two biggest banks: Germany:   24.6  380 (marks)
France:   80  550 (francs)
 (64) (440)

p. 367
idem p. 398
Letters received and dispatched (number)[5]
1852 6,135 6,292
1870 85,800 87,513 (Discontogesellschaft)
1880 204,877 208,240 {big Berlin bank}
1890 341,318 452,166
1900 533,102 626,043

Riesser, 3rd edition, p. 693 (Supplement VIII) (p. 745, 4th edition):

Development of Concentration Within Individual Big Banks
and Banking Concerns

The eight big Berlin banks had[6]
At
end
of
year
Branches
(office and
branches)
in Germany
Deposit
banks and
exchange
offices
Commandite
operations
Constant
holdings
in German
joint-stock
banks
Total
establish-
ments
1895
1896
1900
1902
1905
1908
1911
16
18
21
29
42
— 
104
18
20
25
33
46
69
104
(5)
(5)
(5)
(7)
(8)
(10)
(9)
14
18
40
72
110

276
23
27
53
87
149
264
276
(12)
(12)
(17)
(35)
(44)
(73)
(93)
11
11
11
10
8

7
13
14
12
11
12
12
7
(—)
(—)
(—)
(—)
(1)
(2)
(2)
1
1
8
16
34

63
2
2
9
16
34
97
63
(—)
(—)
(5)
(5)
(11)
(31)
(15)
42
48
80
127
194

450
56
63
93
147
241
442
450
(17)
(17)
(27)
(47)
(64)
(116)
(119)
p. 747
4th edition

[N.B. The 3rd edition deals with eight banks, the 4th edition with six.]

Figures from the 4th edition, p. 745 (for six banks: Darmstädter Bank; Berliner Handelsgesellschaft; Deutsche Bank; Discontogesellschaft; Dresdner Bank and Schaaffhausenscher Bankverein).

(in brackets, figures for
the Deutsche Bank)

N.B. Deutsche Bank. Turnover:
(million marks)
1870 1875 1885 1895 1905 1908 1911
239 5,500 15,100 37,900 77,200 94,500 112,100

These eight banks include, firstly, five banks which form “groups”: Darmstädter Bank (Bank für Handel und Industrie), Deutsche Bank, Discontogesellschaft, Dresdner Bank and Schaaffhausenscher Bankverein,—and then the three following banks: Berliner Handelsgesellschaft, Commerz- und Disconto-Bank, National Bank für Deutschland.

Here are these “groups” [common-interest associations] of the (five) banks and their “capital strength” (p. 484 et seq.).

Swallowed up
banks (p. 520) Mil-
lion
marks
Million
marks
pri-
vate
bank
of-
fices
banks
1. Group D.B. Deutsche
Bank . .
12 929.5 1,266.41) 786.8 1,045.41) 31 21
2. D.G. Disconto-
gesell-
schaft . .
6 662.6   564.7   23  8
3. Dr.B. Dresdner
Bank . .
8 321.3   285.7    7  1
4. S.BV Schasff-
hausen-
scher
Bank-
verein . .
4 209.9   278.5   11  6
5. Dm.B.
my
ab-
brevi-
ations
Darmstäd-
ter Bank
(Bank für
Handel
und In-
dustrie)
5 260.6   297.4   17  7
5. 35 2,720.7 ΣΣ 2,471.7   89[7] 43
{2,750 million} i. e. almost
2,500 mil-
lion
marks
p. 500
N.B. This includes only share capital and reserves,
   i.e., only the banks’ own money, not borrowed
   money
.

1) This includes “associated banks”.

p. 537
on September
30, 1911
41 concern banks belonging to the
five big-bank groups had, on December 31,
1908:
on
October 1,
1911
Swallowed up:















branches 241














285
Private
bank
offices












banks p. 697 agencies 325 377
Dm.B. 8 3 41 banks

in

concerns

of the

five groups
commandite banks 18  21
D.B. 45 30 deposit banks 102 126
D.G. 61 11 private bank offices 89 116
swallowed up
Dr.B. 2 1 banks       43  45
116 45 common-interest associations based on
possession and exchange of shares . .
16  20

In all, the big banks and their concerns, taken together, had by December 31,
1908, swallowed up 164 private bank offices+banks; N.B. (p. 500).

In Great Britain in 1899 there were 12 banks with 100 or more branches; altogether there were 2,304 branches (“Niederlassung”).

In 1901 there were 21 banks with 100 or more branches; altogether there were 6,672 branches (p. 521) (p. 558).

“At the beginning of 1905, a single bank, the
London City and Midland Bank, had 447 branches,
i.e., 257 more than the big Berlin banks and 52
provincial banks affiliated with them at the end
of 1904; on December 31, 1907 (), according to
The Economist, the British Joint-stock banks, then
numbering only 74 (exclusive of colonial and foreign
banks), of which 35 had the right to issue banknotes,
had not less than 6,809 branches and sub-branches”
(522).
N.B.


Riesser continued

() Fourth edition (p. 558): “On December 31, 1908, deposit banks in Great Britain and Ireland, numbering then 63, had not less than 6,801 branches and sub-branches. Towards the end of 1910 the number of branches was 7,151. At this time, four banks in England and Wales had more than 400 branches each, viz.:

London City and Midland Bank . . 689 (315 in 1900)
Lloyds Bank . . . . . . . . . . 589 (311 ”  ” )
Barclay & Co . . . . . . . . . . 497 (269 ”  ” )
Capital and Counties Bank . . . . . 447 (185 ”  ” )

“Four other banks had more than 200 branches each and eleven (20, including Scottish and Irish) had more than 100 each”[8] (p. 559).



In France, the number of agencies and branches (p. 522) (p. 559) was:

1894 1908
Banks Paris
and
suburbs
Prov-
inces
Paris
and
suburbs
Prov-
inces
Abroad
(and
Algeria)
Crédit Lyonnais 27  96 62 175 20
Comptoir d’Escompte 15  24 49 150
Société Générale . . 37 141 88 637  2


As regards colonial banks (nearly all founded by the Berlin big banks), Riesser’s summary is as follows (additions for 1910 from the fourth edition, p. 375[9]:

N.B. “At the end of the nineties there were only four
German overseas banks; in 1903 there
were six with 32 branches, and at the beginning of
1906 there were already 13, with not less than
100,000,000 marks and more than 70 branches.
“This, however, is relatively insignificant in
comparison with the successes of other countries in
this field: already in 1904, Great Britain,
for example, had 32 (1910: 36) colonial banks
with headquarters in London and 2,104
(1910: 3,358) with headquarters in the colonies,
and also 18 (1907: 30) (1910: 36) other British
banks abroad with 175 (2,091) branches. Already
in 1904-05, France had 18 colonial and foreign
banks with 104 branches; Holland had 16 overseas
banks with 68 branches” (p. 346).

1910 1904
Thus: Germany 13— 70
72—5,449 Great Britain 50— 2,279
France 18— 104
Holland 16— 68[10]

The first figure shows the number of colonial and
foreign banks in general, the second—the number of
their branches (or of individual banks in the colonies).


“Supplement VII” (p. 666 et seq.) contains a list of companies and banks in the big-bank “concerns”, from which I take foreign banks:

Sphere
(location
of branches)
(Number
of
bran-
ches)
Location
of bank
Name of bank
 
Capital
million
marks (etc.)
Berlin big bank which founded it
or has holdings in it
(—) Amsterdam Die Amsterdamsche
Bank
6 florins Darmstädter Bank
China,
Japan,
India,
etc.
(12) Shanghai Deutsch-Asiatische
Bank
7.5 taels Darmstädter Bank+ Berliner Han-
delsgesellschaft + Deutsche Bank +
Discontogesellschaft + Dresdner
Bank + Schaaffhausenscher Bank-
verein
Italy (33) Milan Banca Commerciale Italiana 105 lire Darmstädter Bank + Berliner Han-
delsgesellschaft + Deutsche Bank +
Discontogesellschaft + Dresdner
Bank
(? Belgium) (—) Brussels Banque internatio-
nale de Bruxelles
25 francs Darmstädter Bank + Berliner Han-
delsgesellschaft + Discontogesell-
schaft + Schaaffhausenscher Bank-
verein
(? Great
Britain)
(—) London Bankers Trading
Syndicate
£ 0.1 Darmstädter Bank
Rumania (—) Bucharest Banka Marmorosch
Blank
10 lei Darmstädter Bank+ Berliner Han-
delsgesellschaft
(? America) (—) ? Amerika-Bank 25 marks Darmstädter Bank
(?Great
Britain)
(—) London London and Hansea-
tic Bank
£0.4 Common-und Disconto-Bank
(South
America,
etc.)
(22) Berlin Deutsche Über-
seeische Bank
20 marks Deutsche Bank
East
Africa
(?) Berlin Aktiengesellschaft
für
Überseeische Bauunternehmungen
2 marks Deutsche Bank
Central
America
(?) Berlin Zentral Amerika-
Bank
10 marks Deutsche Bank
Mexico (2) Mexico Mexikanische Bank
für Handel und
Industrie
16 pesos Deutsche Bank
Polynesia (2) Hamburg Deutsche Handels-
und Plantagen-
Gesellschaft der
Südseeinseln
2¾ marks Discontogesellschaft
New Guinea (?) (?) Neu-Guinea-Kom-
pagnie
6 marks     ”
Brazil (5) Hamburg Brasilianische Bank
für Deutschland
10 marks     ”
Chile and
Central
America
(9) Hamburg Bank für Chile und
Deutschland
10 marks Discontogesellschaft
Rumania (2) Bucharest Banca generala
Romana
10 lei     ”
Belgium (?) Antwerp Compagnie commer-
belge
5 francs     ”
German
Africa
(15) (?) Deutsch-Afrika Bank 1 marks     ”
Bulgaria (?) Sofia Banque de Crédit 3 leva     ”
German
West
Africa
(4) Berlin Deutsch-Westafri-
kanische Bank
1 marks Dresdner Bank
Asia Minor,
Turkey,
Salonica,
etc.
(12) Berlin Deutsche Orientbank 16 marks Dresdner Bank + National-Bank für
Deutschland + Schaaffhausenscher
Bankverein
South
America
(3) Berlin Deutsch-Südameri-
kanische Bank
20 marks Dresdner Bank + Schaaffhausenscher
Bankverein

Connection Between the Banks and Industrial Enterprises (p. 383)
(according to Jeidels) (1895-1903
Number of industrial stock issues
by years
p. 307 Number of
companies
for which
these stock
issues were
made
Bank of-
fices at
indus-
trial en-
terprises
(p. 284 )
(p. 306) (p. 463)
Number of
industrial-
ists on bank
supervisory
boards 1)
p. 413 Σ for seven
years
1895-1910 1904-1910 Number of
industrial
stock
issues
My abbre-
viations
p. 414
1895-1910
(1903-04) (1911 ) (1908) (1910)
(p. 501)
424 204— Dr. B Dresdner Bank —220 —181—368 —191 —504 —11 —8  
361 174— S. BV. Schaaffhausenscher
Bankverein . .
—187 —207—364 —211 —290 —19 —17  
312 142— B. HG. Berliner Handels-
gesellschaft . .
—170 —149—281 —95 —153 —15 —13  
302 151— D. G. Discontogesell-
schaft . . . . .
—151 —154—290 —111 —362 —4 —2  
456 306— D. B. Deutsche Bank . . —150 —139—419 —250 —488 —4 —5  
314 166— Dm. B. Darmstädter Bank —148 —140—285 —161 —313 —4 —6[11]
1 ) Including the directors of the Krupp firm (Dr. B.); Hapag and Norddeutscher
Lloyd
and Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks Aktiengesellschaft (D. Ges.); Hibernia; Harpener
Aktiengesellschaft, Oberschlesische Eisenindustrie Aktiengesellschaft and others (B. H. Ges.), etc.

(
 
Apparently
incomplete data
)
 
Number of overseas banks founded
by the big banks (list in Riesser,
p. 327 et seq.) (p. 354 et seq.)
Σ D.B. D.G. Dr.B. Dm.B. B.HG. S.BV. N.B.
f. D.
Total
11 1880-89 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 11
22 1890-99 4 6 2 2 2 4 2 22
24 { 1900-04 3 3 1 1  8
1905, 1906-08 2 3 5 1 1 3 1 16
Not the whole decade, up to 1908-09.
------------⌄------------
R. E. May (in
Schmoller’s Jahrbuch,
1899, p. 271 et seq.)
(p. 83) distribution
of national income
in Germany
(p. 82) data of
Finance Minis-
ter Rheinbaben
Prussia 1908
(pp. 99-100)
in Germany
Number
of people
(mill.)
Income
thous.
mill.
marks
Number %
of people
(mill.)
Tax
mill.
marks
% Number of
joint-stock
companies
Their cap-
ital (thous.
mill.
marks
up to
900 marks
18⅓ 12¾ 17.9 = 47.22 0
900-3,000 3⅔ 16.2 = 42.54 83.7 = 34.26 1883—1,311 —3.9
> 3,000 1.9 = 5.50 66%[12] 1896—3,712 —6.8
Σ=22⅓ 25   36.0 95.26 1900—5,400 6.8 (7.8)
  > 9,500 marks
0.87% of popu-
   lation
43% of tax
Gainfully em-
ployed population
N.B. 1908—6,249 —9.4
 

Riesser
gives list,
not table
Supple-
ment IV
Number of Industrial and Commercial Companies with Bank Representation
on Supervisory Boards
Industries:
Banks Mining, iron and steel, salt works Quarrying Metalworking Machines and instruments1) Chemical Soap, oil, etc. Textile and leather Paper Pulp Food Trade Insurance Transport Foreign companies Building Hotels & Restaurants Rubber Art products Plantation companies Exhibitions Total
Darmstadter Bank  9  4  2  15  3 2  5 2 1  7  24  3  9  6
Berliner Handelsgesellschaft 18  1  8  10  4 1  3  16  9 17 1
Commerz-und
Disconto-Bank
 1  2  2  7  1  1  3  7  2  3  1 1 1
Deutsche Bank 13  1  3  24  1  4  6 1  3  28  8  6 13 2 1 2 116
Discontogesell-
schaft
13  2  2  8  5  2  1  29  2  4 21 2 1
6) Dresdner Bank 10  2  3  14  1  2 1  2  29  3 11  8 1
National-Bank
für Deutschland
13  4  3  18  2  3  1  7  21  1  9  6 2 4 2
8)Schaaffhaus-
enscher Bank-
verein
18  2  4  15  2  1  4  1  20  1 16  6 3 1
Total 95 18 27 111 19 13 19 4 1 27 174 21 67 78 9 2 1 7 4 1
---------------⌄-------------- ------------------⌄----------------- --------------⌄------------- ----------------------------⌄---------------------------
140 +111 +83 +174 +166 +24 -698
1) including electrical industry.

“According to Board of Trade esti-
mates for 1898, Great Britain’s total
income from bank and other oper-
ations
amounted during that year
to £18 million (i.e., about 432 million
kronen)” (p. 399) (p. 431).... “‘Alleged-
ly’ more than 6,000 million marks of
European annual overseas trade pay-
ments go through Great Britain”....
[p. 431, 4th edition]
income from
banking opera-
tions !!!
450 million
francs.

Britain’s annual income from shipping is 1,800 million marks; Germany’s is 200-300 million marks (p. 400) (p. 432 idem).


1907 poll on bank employees in Germany: replies from 1,247 firms with 24,146 employees (p. 579) (p. 626)

Number Age of
employees
(years)
Average
salary
(marks)
Average
salary, all
private
employees
264 joint-stock
 banks
16,391 20-39 1,459-3,351 1,467-2,380
708 private banks  5,938 40-54 3,638-4,044 2,413-2,358
275 co-operative
 banks
 1,817 55-70 3,899-2,592 2,264-1,879

“The number of clearing accounts increased from
3,245 in 1876 to 24,821 (24,982) in 1908 (1910), but,
apart from state bank offices, they are mainly han-
dled by big commercial and industrial houses, so that
clearing operations by the State Bank have retained
a somewhat plutocratic character
(122) (p. 131).
N.B.

In 1907, the average amount of each account (State Bank) = 24,116 marks. Turnover = 260,600 million marks, 354,100 million in 1910 (p. 132). The postal cheque turnover (1909) = 23,847 owners of accounts and 49,853 in 1910, and their property = 94 million marks (p. 132).


Total Clearing House Transactions (p. 123)
(thousand million marks)
1884 1908 1910 In Germany cheques
and cheque-clearing
operations are less
developed than
endorsements
Germany  12.1  45.9  54.3
France  3.3  21.3  23.7
Great Britain 118.5 260.1 299
U.S.A. 143.2 366.2 422

Total turnover of the State Bank in Germany
1908 = 305,250 million marks
1910 = 354,100  ”   ”


Number of cartels in Germany
(p. 137) 1896 about 250
(p. 149) 1905  ” 385
|
involving about 12,000 firms[13]

Deposits (in all banks) and in savings banks, thous-
and million
marks (pp. 162-63)       
Germany
including savings 9   . . . . . . .  1900 about 10
bank deposits 13   . . . . . . .  1906 15.5
1909-15½
Great Britain . . . . . . . . . . (1903-05) — — 10.5
U.S.A . . . . . . . . . . (1905) — — 47 (59 in 1909)
France (only bank deposits) . . . . (1905) — —  4
Germany (only bank deposits) . . .  1900 — —  1
 1906 — —  2.5
Great Britain (only bank deposits) (1905) — —  6.25
U.S.A. (only bank deposits) . . . — — 15

N.B. “The above data show that, even now, German
deposits are not of major importance, compared with
those of Great Britain and the U.S.A., and appear equally
to lag considerably behind those of France” (164)
(idem 177).

Riesser, p. 354 (p. 384):

“The progress of the preceding period (1848-70),
which had not been exactly slow, compares with
the rapidity with which the whole of Germany’s
national economy, and with it German banking,
progressed during this period (1870-1905) in about
the same way as the speed of the mail coach in the
good old days compares with the speed of the present-
day automobile... which is whizzing past so fast
that it endangers not only innocent pedestrians in
its path, but also the occupants of the car”....[14]
N.B.

And alongside the above, in the very next sentence, Riesser, this bourgeois vulgarian (essentially an out-and-out philistine) and lackey of the money-bags, sees the guarantee of “public security” and “real progress” in the “greatest virtue” of the leader: moderation!!!

And on the next page (355—p. 385) he admits that banks are ... “enterprises which, by their very functions and development, ‘are not of a purely private-business character’, 1 ) but are more and more outgrowing the sphere of purely private-business regulation”.[15]


1) From Riesser’s speech as president of the first all-German bankers’ congress in Frankfurt-am-Main, September 19-20, 1902.


But this admission does not prevent this bourgeois idiot from writing:

“The other consequence, too, predicted by the
socialists, of the process of concentration, that
it is bound to lead finally to the socialisation
of the means of production
, which the socialists
aim at and which is to be realised in the ‘state
hail of the future’, has not come true in Germany,
and is hardly likely to come true later on”[16]
(p. 585) (p. 633).
!!ha-
ha!!
“refuta-
tion....”

(The Deutsche Bank alone has a turnover of 94,500 million marks (p. 361) (112,100 million in 1910, p. 391), has connections with a group of 12 banks, controls a capital of 1,000 million marks—the capital of this group and “affiliated” banks—has swallowed up 52 banks, has 116 branches, bank offices, etc., in Germany—has seats on the Supervisory Boards of 120 trading and industrial companies, etc. And this is not “socialisation”!!)

Deutsche Bank:
Own capital = 200 million marks + 100 million reserves
turnover = 94,500 million marks
gross profit = 55 million marks (1908) (p. 352)
= 62.9  ”   ”  (1910) (p. 382).

The number of bank employees in the Deutsche Bank was 4,860 (1908)—p. 578 ((in 1895, there were 7,802 employees in 66 banks with 50 or more employees, ibidem)).


In discussing merchant shipping and its development in Germany on p. 114 et seq., Riesser notes the following:

H.-A.P.A.-G. (Hamburg-America), capital (1908) 125 million marks (+ 76 million in bonds), 162 ships (value 185.9 million marks).

North German Lloyd, capital (1908) 125 million marks (+ 76 million in bonds), 127 ships (value 189.1 million marks). 125 + 76 = 201.

“In 1902-03, both these companies concluded
essentially identical agreements with the International
Mercantile Marine Co.
, founded by American bankers
and shipowners on January 1, 1903, with a capital of
120 million dollars (= 480 million marks), and embracing
nine American and British lines” (p. 115). This is the
so-called Morgan trust.
Content of the agreement: division of profits and
division of the world (German companies would not
compete in Anglo-American freight traffic; agreement
stipulated which ports were to be used by each, etc.,
etc.). A joint control committee was set up. The agreement
was for twenty years (terminable after a year’s notice).
It was to be annulled in the event of war (p. 116, end)
(p. 125, 4th edition).[17] And this is not “socialisation”!!

“As regards the Reichsbank, according to the information given by the Bank Enquiry Commission (p. 179), on September 1, 1906, the number of German firms and individuals generally solvent in their dealings with bills of exchange was 70,480”:

viz.:
N.B.
insignificant
number
solvent
a) merchants and trad-
ing companies . . . .
29,020 =  41%
b) industrialists and indus-
trial companies . . .
21,887 =  31
c) agriculturists and agri-
cultural craft and fac-
tory enterprises . . .
9,589 =  14
d) co-operatives of all
kinds . . . . . . . . . .
883 =  1
e) rentiers, artisans and
similar craftsmen
9,101 =  13
70,480 100
p. 194 idem

(Düsseldorfer) Stahlwerkverband founded March 30, 1904 (for three years and prolonged on April 30, 1907 for a further five years). Its output in 1904 was 7.9 million tons (p. 141) (p. 153).

On November 28, 1904, it concluded an agreement on
export of rails between Great Britain 53.5%,
Germany 28.83%, France and Belgium 17.67% (+ France
4.8-6.4%. ΣΣ = 104.8, 106.4%) (p. 147) (p. 159).
Rail
cartel
Now, after the United States
Steel Corporation joined the car-
tel
, Germany’s share = 21%
Division
of the
world
Cartel for sale of girders
(export of girders)—shares:
Germany 73.45%
France 11.50%
Belgium 15.05%

“In February 1909 there was formed also the
Internationaler Zinkhüttenverband (p. 159) at first
until December 31, 1910, and afterwards prolonged,
evidently for three years. There are three groups
(according to the geographical location of the fac-
tories). Group A—all German and some Belgian
plants, group B—ten Belgian, French and Spanish
plants, and group C—British plants. Out of the total
European output, about 513,000 tons in 1908,
Germany’s share at that time was put at 226.9,
Belgium’s—165, France’s and Spain’s together—
55.8, Great Britain’s—54.5. Member plants accounted
for about 92 per cent of the total European output.
N.B.

“Under recent arrangements member companies
can increase production at will, irrespective of
fixed production quotas, with the proviso, however,
that if stocks at a definite date (March 31, 1911,
is the initial date) are 50,000 tons or more, then,
under definite conditions, output must be cut by
a certain percentage, in accordance with the compa-
ny’s production quota” (p. 160, 4th edition).
N.B.

Banks unite into groups (or consortiums) for especially large-scale undertakings:

I. a) Prussian Consortium—in 1909 28 banks (p. 310).
b) State Loan Consortium— 29 ” (p. 311).
c) Rothschild group—in 1909 13 ” (p. 312)
(including the three Rothschild firms—Vienna, Lon-
don and Paris).
2. Group for Asiatic business operations,
  etc.
  etc.

N.B. The political patrol clashes are fought on the
financial field. But the moment for these financial
clashes, the opponents, and the mode of fighting,
are determined solely by the country’s responsible
foreign policy leadership” (p. 402) (p. 434).

French capital in Tunisia and Morocco
   ”    ”   ” Russia

French capital in Italy (the beginning of political rap-
          prochement through financial
          rapprochement)

German  ”   ” Persia (struggle against Great Britain)

the struggle of European finance capital groups over
     Chinese and Japanese loans

French and British capital in Portugal and Spain, etc.
     (p. 403).[18]


{ First edition of Riesser’s book, preface dated July 4,
  1905
}

Bills of exchange turnover in Germany (computed from the tax on bills) increased from 12,000 million marks in 1885 to 25,500 million marks in 1905, and to 31,500 million in 1907 (p. 228)—and to 33,400 million in 1910 (p. 246).


Germany’s national wealth (Mulhall 1895: 150,000 million) 130,000—216,000 million (Riesser): 200,000 million marks (p. 76) (Steinmann: 350,000).

Germany’s national income 25,000-30,000 million marks (p. 77).

France’s national wealth: Mulhall (1895)—198,000 million marks; Foville (1902)—161,000; Leroy-Beaulieu (1906)—205,000; Théry (1906)—161,000.

National income = 20,000 million marks (Leroy-Beaulieu) (p. 78).

Great Britain: 204,000 million marks (Giffen 1885)—235,000 (Mulhall 1895), 228,000 (Chiozza-Money 1908).

United States: national wealth = 430,000 million marks (1904, Census Bureau).

In Germany, “about 1,200 million marks, i.e., about 1/3 of the yearly savings of the nation, is annually invested in securities” (p. 81)—(p. 86 idem).


Source references in Riesser

(Those especially praised or especially important marked*.)

*Walther Lotz, The Technique of Securities Issues, 1890.

Alfred Lansburgh, German Banking, 1909.

* ”    ”   “The Control of National Wealth Through the Banks”—in Die Bank, 1908.

Schumacher on concentration of banking, Schmoller’s Jahrbuch, XXXth year, No. 3.

Warschauer, “Supervisory Boards”, Conrad’s Jahrbücher (III; Vol. XXVII).

Theodore E. Burton, Financial Crisis, etc., New York, 1902.

**J. W. Gilbart, The History, etc., of Banking, London, 1901.
Schriften des Vereins für Sozialpolitik, Vols. CX, CIX and others. (1900 crisis.)
CXIII: “Lessons of the Crisis.”

W. Sombart, The German National Economy in the Nineteenth Century, 2nd edition, 1909.

L. Pohle, The Development of German Economic Life in the Nineteenth Century, 2nd edition, 1908.

A. Saucke, “Has ... Large-Scale Enterprise ... Increased in Industry?” Conrad’s Jahrbücher III, Vol. XXXI.

von Halle, The German National Economy at the Turn of the Century, 1902.

May on distribution of the national income, Schmoller’s Jahrbuch, 1899.

*Glier, “The American Iron Industry”, Schmoller’s Jahrbuch, 27thyear, No. 3; 28thyear.

*  ” idem, Conrad’s Jahrbücher, Vol. XXXV (1908).

Ed. Wagon, The Financial Development of German Joint-Stock Companies 1870-1900, Jena, 1903.

Jenks, “The Trusts”, Conrad’s Jahrbücher, 3rd series, Vol. I (1891).

Voelcker, “The German Metallurgical Industry”, Revue économique internationale, III, 4 (1904).

Kollmann, “The Steel Association”, Die Nation, 1905 (22ndyear).

Waldemar Müller, “The Organisation of Credit in Germany”, Bank-Archiv, 1909 (8th year).

Warschauer, Physiology of German Banks, 1903.

E. Jaffé, British Banks, 1905.

S. Buff, Cheque Turnover in Germany, 1907.

*Ad. Weber, The Rhine-Westphalian Banks and the Crisis, 1903.

  ”    idem. Schriften des Vereins für Sozialpolitik, Vol. CX.

*Ditto. “Deposit Banks and Speculative Banks.”

**Otto Jeidels, “Relation of the German Big Banks to Industry”, Schmoller’s Jahrbuch (? “Studies” ?), 1905.

**W. Prion, “German Bill Discounting”, 1907, Schmoller’s Forschungen No. 127.

Fr. Leitner, Banking and Its Technique, 1903.

**Br. Buchwald, The Technique of Banking, 5th edition, 1909.

H. Sattler, Investment Banks, 1890. (Riesser does not praise it.)
N.B. [preface by A. Wagner. Riesser is very angry with state socialist Wagner!!]

Fr. Eulenburg, “Supervisory Boards”. Conrad’s Jahrbücher.
3rd series, Vol. XXXII.

 ”   ”   “The Present Crisis”... ibidem, 3rd series, Vol. XXIV.

*G. Diouritch, The Expansion of German Banks Abroad, Paris, 1909.

R. Rosendorff, “German Overseas Banks”. Blätter für vergleichende Rechtswissenschaft, etc., 3rd year, 1908.

A. P. Brüning, The Development of Foreign Banking, 1907.

R. Rosendorff, “The German Banks in Overseas Business”, Schmoller’s Jahrbuch, XXVIII, No. 4.

R. Steinbach, “Managerial Costs of the Berlin Big Banks”, Schmoller’s Jahrbuch, 29th year, No. 2.

E. Moll, The Profitability of the Joint-Stock Company, Jena, 1908.

C. Hegemann, The Development of the French Big Banks, Münster, 1908.

Ch. J. Bullock, “Concentration of Banking Interests”, The Atlantic Monthly, 1903, August.

H. Voelcker, “Forms of Combination and Interest Sharing in German Big Industry”, Schmoller’s Jahrbuch, Vol. XXXIII.

L. Eschwege, “Revolutionising Tendencies in the German Iron Industry”, Die Bank, 1909, April.

J. Cockburn Macdonald, “The Economic Effects
  of the Concentration of Capital in Few Hands”,
  The Institute of Bankers, 1900, October. N.B. (?).

N.B. p. 70 et seq. (abbreviated)
Tabular survey of outstanding events affecting
the development of German banking in the second
epoch:

1871-72: end of the war. Five thousand million. “Stormy” advance....
“The beginning of industrial cartellisation”....

1873. Crisis.

1874-78. Depression.

1879-82. Economic boom. Promotion of bubble companies.

1879. Gold currency. (Union with Austria.)

1883-87. Depression (1887. Union with Italy.)

1888-90. Boom. Promotion of bubble companies. Speculation.

1891-94. Depression.

1891. Failure of many Berlin banks.

1895. Beginning of boom.

1890-97. Boom intensified. Rapid development of electrical industry.

1897. Formation of the Rhine-Westphalian Iron Syndicate.

1898-1900. Favourable business conditions.

1899. Climax of reconstructions, formation of new companies and issues of stock.

1900-01. Crisis. Drop in mining securities, failure of many banks. “Vigorous intervention of the big banks. Intensified concentration”....

1901-02. “Prolonged and particularly marked demand for money” ... foundation of the United States Steel Corporation.

1902-06. “Revival.”

1904. Foundation of the Stahlwerkverband. Stormy development of concentration.

1907. American crisis. Bank rate increased to 7½ per cent.

1908. End of acute crisis in America. “Revival.” Money liquidity.

1909. Intensified money liquidity, etc.

1910. Progressive improvement... (4th edition, p. 78).

N.B.
N.B. 1895-1900 “for the first time excess of immigra-
  tion” N.B. (p. 75).

New literature

N.B. Dr.Max Augstin, The Development of Agriculture in the United States, Munich, 1914 (4 marks).

W. Wick, The Little Mercury, Zurich, 1914. (416 pp.) (“Commercial handbook”).


In the fourth edition, Riesser has this on foreign investments (capital invested abroad) (p. 426 et seq.):

Germany (1905), at least 24-25 thousand million marks (this now “undoubtedly” “greatly exceeded”, p. 436, end), including 16 thousand million marks in foreign securities....

“Of the total securities owned by France, estimated by Edmond Théry (Economic Progress in France... p. 307) at the end of 1906 at 100 thousand million francs, and Neymarck in 1906 at 97-100 thousand million francs (with a yield of 4½ thousand million francs), at the end of 1908, according to Théry, about 38½ thousand million wore in foreign securities.

“The estimates vary widely, of course, but an annual increment of at least 1,000 million francs is generally accepted. Henri Germain, former director of the Crédit Lyonnais, estimated this annual increase (in the years immediately preceding 1905) at 1,500 million francs; Paul Leroy-Beaulieu recently even put it at 2,500 million francs.

“The well-known British financial policy expert, Sir Edgar Speyer, in a lecture at the Institute of Bankers (‘Some Aspects of National Finance’) on June 7, 1900, estimated total British investments abroad at £2,500 million, i.e., about 50,000 million marks, with an annual yield of £110 million (✕); his estimate for the end of 1910, in a lecture in the Liberal Colonial Club, is £3,500 million, or about 70,000 million marks.

“This corresponds approximately to George Paish’s estimate for 1907-08, about £2,700 million, i.e., about 54,000 million marks, nearly equally divided between India and the colonies (£1,312 million), and other foreign countries (£1,381 million). The same author gives the figure of £3,192 million, or about 64,000 million marks, for the end of 1910, and in a lecture to the Royal Statistical Society he estimates the 1911 income from British investments abroad, on the basis of the yearly Reports of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, at approximately £180 million which, however, Sir Felix Schuster in a discussion on Speyer’s lecture of May 27, 1911, regards as too high” (p. 427).


(✕) “Incidentally, in this lecture he validly
emphasised that intensified export, increased issues
of foreign securities and a big economic boom are
only different manifestations of the same phenomenon.
One section of the second lecture is headed: Export
of British Capital, Chief Cause of the Empire’s
Prosperity” (p. 428).
N.B.

Notes

[1] See present edition, Vol. 22, p. 246.—Ed.

[2] See present edition, Vol. 22, pp. 204-05.—Ed.

[3] See present edition, Vol.,22, p. 219.—Ed.

[4] See present edition, Vol. 22, p. 215.—Ed.

[5] Ibid., p. 214.—Ed.

[6] See present edition vol22, p. 213—Ed.

[7] In the manuscript the total “89 private hank offices” is connected by an arrow with the same figure in the following table (“concern Banks”) (see p. 352 of this volume).—Ed.

[8] See present edition, Vol. 22, p. 212.—Ed.

[9] Round brackets in the text indicate additions made by Lenin from-the fourth edition of the book (p. 375). They were written in between the lines, above or below the figures to which they refer.—Ed.

[10] See present edition, Vol. 22, p. 245.—Ed.

[11] See present edition. Vol. 22, pp. 220-21.—Ed.

[12] So given by Riesser.—Ed.

[13] See present edition, Vol. 22, p. 202.—Ed.

[14] Ibid., p. 300.—Ed.

[15] Ibid., p. 302.—Ed.

[16] Ibid.—Ed.

[17] See present edition, Vol. 22, p. 251.—Ed.

[18] See present edition, Vol. 22, p. 296.—Ed.

[19] By the First World War, the Thyssen Steel Company, founded in 1871, was Europe’s biggest iron and steel complex—it included the entire metallurgical cycle, plus coal and iron mines, general engineering and munition plants, transport and trading enterprises. In 1926, the Thyssen family played a leading part in the formation of the Steel Trust—the largest German war-industry combine and one of the most powerful German monopolies. The Thyssen concern helped bring the nazis to power; it was closely connected with a number of industrial and banking monopolies in nazi Germany and with international monopoly capital. After the Second World War the Steel Trust was split into two large concerns—Thyssen and Rheinstahl. The Thyssen concern holds a leading place in the West German iron and steel industry.

Hugo Stinnes started a steel mill in 1893; after the First World War it grew into a large monopoly concern with more than 1,500 enterprises in different industries. The concern went bankrupt shortly after Stinnes’s death in 1924, but with the help of American banks his heirs managed to keep the concern in business. One of its off shoots, the Rhein-Elbe Union steel combine, became one of the main components of the Steel Trust. Control of the Stinnes concern passed to the Hugo Stinnes Corporation, a U.S. company in which the shares are held by Stinnes’s heirs and American bankers who heavily invested in the concern. p. 346


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