In Saxony and the Hansa cities incomes are higher, while in Baden, Wiirtemberg and the Thuringian states they are lower, but on the whole the average throughout the empire is about equivalent to that of Prussia. Applying the Prussian average to the whole population the grand total of private income would be from $9,750,000,000 to $10,000,000,000 per annum. To the total of private incomes should be added the net income of public corporations, or about $250,000,000 more, so that the income of the citizens and corporations amounts to fully the estimated figure of $10,000,000,000. It should be noted that dividends are included in the private income, rather than as corporation net income. A calculation for the year 1896 would show an analogous income of $5,375,000,000 or about $102.50 per capita. The increase of the aggregate income during the 16 years there fore amounts to about 80 per cent, while the increase of the average per capita income is about 45 per cent.
The income of the French people was esti mated some years since at $6,250,000,000, at a time when the German income was about $8, 750,000,000. Taking the year 1908 as normal, the average income of the German people would be $138.75 (555 marks) as compared with $128.50 (514 marks) for the French people.
The English national income was estimated. some years since, at about $8,750,000.000, or exactly equal to that of Germany at the time.
Thus the average English income would be $203.75 (815 per capita as compared with $138.75 per capita for Germany.
The statistics of savings banks for 1910, however, show that Germany had 21,534,000 depositors with an aggregate of $4,195,125,000 on deposit, an average of $64 per capita, for the whole population, while Great Britain had 13,209,000 depositors with an aggregate of $1,055,575,000 on deposit, an average of $24 per capita, while France had 14,,069,000 depositors with deposits of $1,128,625,000, an average of $28 per capita, and the United States had 9,143,000 depositors with an aggregate of $4, 274,000,000 on deposit, an average of $46 per capita.
An illustration of the increase of wealth in Germany is seen in the number of those who have passed into the income tax paying class in Prussia, which is representative of the whole country. The number of persons with incomes of $225 or below decreased from 8,614,000 to 8,159,000 in the period from 1896 to 1912. The number of taxpayers with incomes above $225 rose from 2,859,000 to 7,542,000. There were thus about 500,000 fewer low-incomed persons and about 5,000,000 with higher incomes. The number of persons exempt from the tax, in cluding their dependents, fell from 21,066,000 to 16,005,000, but the number of taxpayers, in cluding their dependents, increased from 10, 283,000 to 24,232,000. Thus while more than
two-thirds were exempt from the tax in 1896 because their incomes did not reach the mini mum tax limit, in 1912 less than two-fifths were exempt.
The increase of those taxable indicates the prosperity among those whose incomes are in the lowest classification, but a striking proof that wealth is equitably distributed in Germany is shown in the increases in the next two classes, those whose incomes range from $225 to $750 per annum and those whose incomes range from $700 to $1,500 per annum; that is to say, the middle classes. For a just comparison the fact should be borne in mind that the pur chasing power of the dollar in Germany is almost double that of the dollar in the United States. In these two groups the increase of income since 1896 has bee,n about $1,700,000,000, while the aggregate increase of all taxable in come was about $2,250,000,000. The middle classes have thus absorbed the larger part of Germany's prosperity. In 1896 the number of persons in the class $2254750 was 2,321,000 and they had incomes of $799,250,000, while it; 1912 they had increased to 6,123,000, with in comes amounting to $2,146,000,000. In 1896 the number of persons in the $750-$1,500 class was 215,000, with incomes aggregating $218,500,000, while by 1912 this class had increased to 548,000, with incomes aggregating $536,000,000. Thus these classes enjoyed two and one-half fold increases.
In higher classes the increases were not so large, but it is to be noted that the increases in the $750-$1,500 group was lessened by those who passed to the next higher state. In the highest group of all, those having incomes of $25,000 or over, the total in 1896 was 1,700 per sons, with aggregate incomes of $100,000,000, while in 1912 this class had 4,500 members with aggregate incomes of $273,500,000.
That the increase in incomes in Germany was not due merely to more rigorous assess ments is shown by the fact that wages have similarly increased. As an example, the wages of coal miners may he taken. In 1888 in the Dortmund district the average yearly wages were 863 marks ($215) and in upper Silesia 516 marks ($129). In 1913 the figures had in creased to 1,586 marks($396.50)and 1,053 marks ($263.25) respectively, or in one instance more than double. The figures are net as payments for insurance averaging 204 marks ($51) per annum arc deducted. Other wage figures dem onstrate the same truth, that Germany's wealth is widely distributed.