Bismarck

Biography

Bismarck is described as 'that far-seeing statesman' whose policies, beginning after 1873, launched Germany's industrial revival and indirectly benefited the German piano trade. He inaugurated protective tariffs on foreign-made goods for the home market, organized a consular service that made every consul a servant of German commerce and industry, and subsidized the merchant marine while cheapening land transportation. These measures are credited with enabling German manufacturers, including piano makers, to gain foreign markets, illustrated by the shipment of over 20,000 pianos from Germany to England alone in 1909.

Highlights

• Inaugurated a policy of tariff protection for the home market after 1873
• Organized a consular service that made every consul a servant of German commerce and industry
• Subsidized the merchant marine and cheapened land transportation to help German manufacturers gain foreign trade

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911).

Public domain.