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Show OUR EUROPEAN LETTER. (From our regular correspondent.) The utterances of General Skobeloff against Germany cannot be smoothed down by official explanations. There may be no prospect of immediate war, but so sensitive have Germany and Austria become as to it possibility that Von Moltke has made calculations as to the course Germany would take in the event of a rupture with Russia, and it is no secret that all the fortresses on the frontiers will be greatly increased in strength, and several of them, long neglected, will be put in repair, while new lines of railway are in contemplation by which large bodies of troops could be sent forward with great rapidity. There is a complete understanding between Germany and Austria as to the number of men to be placed in the field in case of need. A million of men by Germany and more then half-a-million by Austria could be equipped with little delay, and, with such forces confronting her, Russia will probably hesitate before encountering these two great nations. Still it cannot be doubted that the Continent is greatly agitated on this subject; for, although the Russian Emperor openly condemned the reckless bravado of his officer he is yet believed to be favorably disposed towards General Skobeloff. The following statistics, taken from the report of the Prussian Ministry of Finance, for the fiscal year ending April 1st, 1882, may prove of interest to many readers as ?? an idea of the material well being of the population. Of the 26,716,700 inhabitants of Prussia, 3,779,000 are single tax-payers, the remainder are represented by 5,383,000 families; each household, therefore, consists on an average of 426 persons. Of the first named single tax-payers, 30,256 are classified as having an income of more than 3,000 marks; 1,183,352 an income of less than 3,000 marks; and the rest (2,558,000 persons) having for the most part an income under 4128 marks, pay no tax. Of the above named households, the heads of 147,700 pay an income tax, 3,803,300 a class tax, and 1,372,000 are tax free. The percentage of income tax-payers in the whole population is 2.12; of class tax-payers 68.29, and of exempts from tax 29.29. August. Berlin, Germany, April 17, 1882. |