Agriculture and Stock Raising.— Large estates are generally managed by stewards and the occupants of smaller properties are, in most cases, the owners. Rye, wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, beet root, flax, hops, tobacco and hemp form the chief products. Chicory is also largely cultivated. The extensive beet root plantations give rise to one of the most important industries. Madder and other plants used in dyeing are also raised. Fruits and vegetables are most extensively grown in the W. provinces, which are also famous for their wines. Horses, cattle and sheep are extensively raised, wool being an important product. Large numbers of fine horses are ex ported from East Prussia.
Mining.--The mineral products are abundant, coal being the most important. The production of lignite is large. Cop per, iron and lead are extensively worked. Prussia yields about one-half of the world's annual production of zinc.
Manufacturing.—Though more of an agricultural than a manufacturing coun try, Prussia has greatly distinguished herself, particularly of recent years, in various branches of manufacture. The Rhenish provinces, and Saxony and Sile sia, are the districts most prominent in this industry. Linens and coarse wool ens for domestic consumption are made in every village, and, indeed, in most cottages throughout the kingdom. Large quantities of silk and cotton goods, and linen, are produced in Elber feld, and other towns of the Rhine prov inces. Very superior broadcloth is largely manufactured at Berlin and Aix la-Chapelle. Prussia occupies an ad vanced rank as a producer of the useful metals. The articles of hardware made at Berlin, Iserlohn, Hagen, Solingen, Olpe, and Essen enjoy a high reputation, the last-named place being the seat of the famous Krupp steel and gun works. Porcelain, jewelry, watches, and car riages are also manufactured in the latter city on a most extensive scale. Paper, leather, soap, oil and cigars are important manufactures; and beer and spirits are very extensively produced.
Commerce.—Commerce is facilitated by the long coast line, and by an elabo rate system of railways and canals. In 1919, the number of miles open for traf fic was about 25,000. The Kiel Canal is of especial service and value in devel opment of agriculture and of commerce, both foreign and domestic. There are chambers and corporations of commerce in all of the larger towns of the kingdom. There are no separate statistics for the trade of Prussia; they are included un der those of the German empire.
Education.—Throughout the kingdom, education is general and compulsory for the elementary grades. The school age is from 6 to 14 years. In 1919 the in stitutions for secondary education were as follows: Universities, 11; classical and scientific high schools (gymnasia and realschulen), over 1,300; public normal schools, 204.
Religion.—Absolute religious liberty is guaranteed by the constitution. Nearly two-thirds of the population are Protes tants and most of the remainder Roman Catholic. The State Church is Evangel ical or Protestant, and since 1817 has consisted of a fusion of the Lutheran and Calvinistic bodies. The relations of the Roman Catholic Church to the gov ernment differ in the various provinces.
Government and Finances.—Previous to the World War the constitution vested the executive and part of the legislative authority in a king. The crown was hereditary in the male line, according to primogeniture. The king was advised by a council of ministers appointed by royal decree. The representative assem bly, the Landtag, was composed of two chambers, the House of Lords (Herren haus) and the Chamber of Deputies (Abgeordnetenhaus). The assent of the king and both chambers was requisite for all laws. The executive government was carried on by a Ministry of State ap pointed by the king and holding office at his pleasure. Prussia was proclaimed a republic on Nov. 13, 1918. A new con stitution was adopted in April, 1920.
Under it every citizen over 20 years of age became a voter, the term of parlia ment was set at 4 years, and the powers of the former king were transferred to the ministry. In 1919 the revenue and expenditures were each estimated at 6, 546,699,278 marks. The public debt on April 1, 1919, was 14,724,436,874 marks.
History.—The rise of the Prussian power has been rapid and extraordinary. The kings of Prussia trace their origin to Count Thassilo of Zollern, one of the generals of Charlemagne. His suc cessor, Count Friederich I., built the family castle of Hohenzollern, near the Danube, in the year 980. A subsequent Zollern, or Hohenzollern, Friederich III., was elevated to the rank of a prince of the Holy Roman empire, in 1273, and received the burgraviate of Nuremberg in fief; and his great-grandson, Fried erich VI. was invested by the Emperor Sigismund, in 1411, with the province of Brandenburg, and obtained the rank of Elector in 1417. In 1608-1619 the duchy of Prussia was united, to the electorate of Brandenburg, the terri tories of which had been greatly ex tended by the valor and wisdom of Fried erich Wilhelm, "the Great Elector," under whose fostering care arose the first standing army in central Europe. Dy ing in 1688, he left the province to his son, Frederick I., who assumed the crown at Konigsberg, Jan. 18, 1701. Pome rania was soon after added to Prussia. When FREDERICK THE GREAT (q. v.) as cended the throne in 1740, his disjointed dominions did not contain 2,500,000 in habitants, and these had made but little progress in the arts, or in the accumula tion of But before his death, in 1786, Prussia had been increased in size nearly half ; while the population had in creased to about 6,000,000. Prussia ac quired, by the subsequent partition of Poland in 1792, and its final dismember ment in 1795, a great extension of terri tory, and upward of 2,000,000 inhabi tants. Her disastrous contest with France in 1806 lowered Prussia for a while; but after Napoleon's Russian campaign, the people rose en masse, and drove the French out of Germany. At the general peace of 1815, Prussia re covered all her former possessions (ex cept a portion of her Polish dominions), and gained valuable acquisitions. After the accession, in 1862, of King William I., the executive government presided over by COUNT VON BISMARCK (q. v.), made laws, and even decreed budget es timates, without the concurrence of the chambers. In 1864, Prussia, conjointly with Austria, sent an army to occupy the duchy of Schleswig-Holstein. A war with Denmark followed, which resulted in the annexation of that duchy to Prus sia. In 1866, Hanover and Saxony were occupied by the Prussian troops, and a war followed with those kingdoms and with Austria, in which, after a brilliant campaign of two weeks, the latter power was obliged to sue for peace, and relin quish her claims as a German power. In addition, Saxony was left a mere nominal sovereignty under the control of Prussia, while Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, Nassau, and the former free city of Frankfort-on-the-Main became absorbed in the Prussian monarchy. In August, 1870, Napoleon III. declared war against Prussia, and the French armies marched toward the Rhine. An alliance having been entered into between Prussia and the southern German powers of Bavaria, Wurttemberg, and Baden, their combined forces crossed the Rhine into France. The part of Prussia in the Franco-Prussian war is inextricably in volved with that of the whole German nation. The conflict seemed to precipi tate the solution of the question which had always been the aim of the king and Bismarck, German unity under Prussian leadership. On Jan. 18, 1871, King Wil liam was crowned at Versailles as Em peror of Germany, and on March 21, the first German Reichstag assembled at Berlin. The history of Prussia since is that of Germany (q. v.).