900
GERMAN EMPIRE : — ALSACE-LORRA.INE
kilometers or 5,605 English square miles, into three Bezi/ke, or districts.
It is administratively divided
Area, English square miles
Population
Pop. per
Districts
1910 1905
sq. mile. 1910
Oberelsass
Unterelsass
Lothringen
1,354 1,848 2,403
517,865 700,938 655,211
512,079 686,695 615,790
308-6 379-2 272-6
Total .
5,605
1,874,014 1,814,564
334-3
In 1910 the population speaking German numbered 1,634,260, French 204,262. The number of foreign subjects was 76,386. The garrison (1910) consisted of 82,276 men. In 1910, 53-2 per cent, resided in towns of 2,000 inhabitants and upwards ; 46-8 per cent, in rural communes. Chief towns, Strassburg (178,891 inhabitants in 1910), the capital of Alsace-Lorraine ; Mlilhausen (95,041), in Oberelsass; and Metz (68,598), in Lothringen. Marriao-es, 1911, 13,071 ; births, 46,930 ; deaths, 34,081 ; surplus of births, 12 849. Of the births, 1,265 (2-70 per cent.) were still-born, and 3,181 (6 -8 per cent. ) were illegitimate.
Eeligion, Instruction, Justice, and Crime.— In i9io, there were
1,428,343 Catholics, 408,274 Protestants, 3,868 other Christians, 30,483 Jews.
There is a university (at Strassburg, see German Empire), and in 1910 18 Gymnasia, 3 Progymnasia, 6 higher Kealschulen, 11 Realschulen (4 united with gymnasia), 1 agricultural school, 1 technical school, 7 seminaries, 5 preparatory schools for teachers, 68 higher girls' schools, 2,852 elementary schools, 73 private elementary schools, 491 infant schools, 49 intermediate schools, 5 institutions for the deaf and dumb, 2 for the blind, 2 for idiots.
There is an Oberlandesgericht (Supreme Court) at Colmar, and six Landgerichte. In 1909, 13,421 persons were convicted of crime.
Finance. — Budget estimate for year ending March 31, 1912, 3,681,529/., expenditure * ordinary, 3,484,498/. ; extraordinary, 197,031Z., total, 3 681 529Z. More than half the revenue from customs and indirect taxes, one of the largest branches of expenditure, is for public instruction. Debt of 3 per cent, rentes in circulation to the amount of 1,265,022 marks, equivalent, if capitalised, to a debt of 42,167,000 marks.
Production and Industry.— Area under principal crops and yield in 1911 (1 hectare = 2-47 acres ; 1 metric ton = 2,204 lbs.) :—
Crops
Hectares Metric Tons
Wheat Rye . Barley
137,423 53,502 48,635
208,399 82,992 93,886
Crops
Hectares Metric Tons
Potatoes Oats . Hay.
93,154 116,407 189,805
670,390 175,855 803,681
wine
Vineyards, 1911, 28,440 hectares, yield, 164,839 gallons of tobacco, 1910, 1,482-46 hectares, yield, 3,S20 tons of dried tobacco ; hops, 1911, 3,'947 hectares, yield, 3,190 metric tons.
The cotton manufacture is the most important in Germany ; woollens
are produced on a smaller scale. Mineral products, 1911, 17,754,571 metric