International timber trade, merchants, and the business organisation of the sector: The role of Danzig and the southern ports of the Baltic Sea (1823–1913)

Abstract

The aim of this work is to study the quantitative and qualitative changes that occurred in the timber trade and in its business organisation, between the early 1820s and the outbreak of the First World War, on the southern bank of the Baltic, paying special attention to Danzig. In particular, we will analyse the role of the merchants and the other social and economic actors involved, at different levels and with different functions, in the timber business: the forests’ owners, the local intermediaries, the transportation of the timber from the forests to the markets, and the workers.

Keywords:

• International timber trade
• Baltic Sea
• Danzig (Gdansk)
• timber merchants

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 In the article, we will use the name Danzig when discussing the historical, economic, and social aspects of our topic. This is due to the fact that the city was part of the German Empire until 1918. We will use the city’s Polish name, Gdansk, when mentioning today’s institutions, such as the State Archives in Gdansk.

2 The pioneering and very challenging research by Gallagher (2016) has recently made the first attempt at the systematic conversion of the wood’s pieces in tons using the database of the Danish trade registers of Sund for the period 1670–1806. On this source see also Kumar (2018).

3 “1800–1900. A Retrospect.” Timber Trade Journal, 23 March 1901, 455–7.

4 “The Foreign and Colonial Timber Trade.” Timber Trade Journal, 17 May 1873, 15.

5 Timber Trade Journal, 31 January 1882, 31; ibidem 9 February 1888, 115; ibidem 21 March 1907, 657; ibidem 28 March 1914.6h

6 Timber Trade Journal, 7 January1881. 101.

7 A series of business biography of many English timber traders is included in “1873-1923”, The Timber Trade Journal. Jubilee Issue, 30 May 1923.

8 Geheimes Staatsarchive Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin (hereafter GStA), Justiz Ministerium, I. Rep 84a, 9568; Gdansk State Archives, 362/30.

9 GStA, Justiz Ministerium, I. Rep 84a, 9568.

10 Gdansk State Archives, 362/31, Die Korporation der Kaufmannschaft zu Danzig gestifet nach dem Statut vo 25 April 1822, Danzig, 1844.

11 Gdansk State Archives, 362/34, Die Korporation der Kaufmannschaft zu Danzig gestifet nach dem Statut vo 25 April 1822, Danzig, 1863.

12 Neues Adressenbuch 1898, IV Teil: 21; Neues Adressenbuch 1904, V Teil: 34; Neues Adressenbuch 1909, V Teil: 23; Neues Adressenbuch 1914, V Teil: 30.

13 See, for instance, “Commerce and Commercial Markets”, The Economist, 9 September 1843, 14.

14 The quality of the timber exported from Danzig had been renowned for centuries (Ricard, 1781, p. 339). In general, according to European sources of the mid-19th century, timber from the Baltic and in particular from Danzig, Memel, and Stettin remained superior in quality to that from Canada (Dede, 1844, p. 112), which is exactly – and not surprisingly - the opposite of what we can read in a report written a few years later by a Canadian author (Quinn, 1861, p. 18).

15 “London Timber Sales”, Timber Trade Journal, 18 November 1873, 189.

16 Gdansk State Archive, Archives of the Chamber of Commerce, Companies’ Register, no. 8020, 8071, 8972, and 8570; Neues Adressenbuch 1914, V Teil: 30.

17 GStA, XIV, rep 180 (MfGH), Nr 15920, Danzig Regierungpräsident to Ministerium für Gewerbe und Handel, 2 May 1890.

18 On the measurement of standing trees in 19t98h-century Poland, see Daheur (2017).

19 Tariff proceedings and documents 1839-1857 accompanied by a message of the President, Treasury reports and bills. 1911. In Three parts. Part 1, Washington: Government Printing Office, 491.

20 “Foreign Report.” Timber Trade Journal, 14 February 1891, 249.

21 Tariff proceedings and documents 1839–1857. cit: 491.

22 For a comparison with other countries where the same method of river transport was practised, see Hollister-Short (1994), Boissière (1996), Brand (2001), and Bonan (2021).

23 “Danzig.” Timber Trade Journal, 18 March 1905, 627.

24 Department of Commerce, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Commerce Reports, vol. I, January–February and March 1920, Commerce Reports, Daily Consular and Trade Reports, no. 4, 6 January 1920, 1052; https://www.gedanopedia.pl/gdansk/?title=BANK_RICHARD_DAMME; https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meyer_%26_Gelhorn_Bankhaus; https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Friedrich_Focking

25 “Foreign Report.” Timber Trade Journal, 14 February 1891, 249.

26 GStA, I, Ha, Rep 120 MfGH, VIII 1, Nr. 6, Bd. 1, Prussian consul in Marseille to the Prussian Minister of Trade, 22 October 1821.

27 Ibidem, Borsen-Nachrichten der Ost-See, 31 August 1835.

28 Timber Trade Journal, 24 March 1906.

29 In 1879, the first exports of sugar took place, consisting of about 1,200 tons; by 1913, the volume had risen to over 225 thousand tons (Heimrich, 1920, p. 2).

30 Diplomatic and Consular Reports, Germany, Report for the Year 1910 on the Trade of the Consular District of Danzig which Comprises East and West Prussia and Posen, edited by the Foreign Office and the Board of Trade, London, 1914, 13. For a long-term comparison between the two towns, see Loew (2002).

31 Today Bromberg is a Polish town named Bydgoszcz.

32 GStA, XIV Ha, Rep180, Nr. 13799, Handelkammer für Kreis Thorn, Denschrift über die Anlage enines Holzhafens in Thorn, Torn, 1898; I, Ha, Rep 120, Ministerium für Gewerbe und Handel (hereafter MfGH), C VIII 1, Nr. 6, Bd. 2, Annual Reports of the German Association of Timber and Rafting Interests in Bromberg, 1890–98.

33 Neues Adressnbuch für Danzig und seine Vororte 1914: 30.

34 GStA, I, Ha, rep 120, MfGH, C VIII 1, Nr. 6, Bd. 3, Holz–Kommisions- und Agentur Geschäft Sachsenhaus, Holz Einfuhr Bericht aus Russland, Russisch Polen, Österreich-Galizien, December 1906.

35 GStA, Ha Rep 87, Ministerium für Landwirtschaft, Domänen und Forsten, B Nr 7434, Julius Brühl Jr., Holz Einfuhr Bericht, Berlin, 1907.

36 The average cost of the wood sleepers was 4.53 marks, while one iron sleeper cost 6.73 marks (GstA, I, Ha, rep 120, MfGH, C VIII 1, Nr. 6, Bd. 3, Verein Deutscher-Eisen- und Stahlindustrie, Die Eisen und die Holzschwellen, Berlin, 1911, 3 and 16).

37 “Trade of Danzig.” Timber Trade Journal, 13 May 1876.

38 Report from Her Majesty on the Manufactures, Commerce & C, of Their Consular Districts, Part 1, London, 1879, 145–46.

39 “Danzig.” Timber Trade Journal, 13 April 1878, 409; “A Glance at the Trade of Danzig.” Timber Trade Journal, 7 December 1878, 265.

40 Report from Her Majesty on the Manufactures, Commerce &c, of Their Consular Districts, Part 4, London, 1882, 1405; Report from Her Majesty on the Manufactures, Commerce &c, of Their Consular Districts, Part 1, London, 1884, 24–5; Foreign Office 1890, Annual Series, No. 808, Diplomatic and Consular Reports on Trade and Finance, Germany. Report for the Year 1889 of the Trade of the Consular District of Danzig, London, 1890, 5–6.

41 Foreign Office 1894, Annual Series, No. 1470, Diplomatic and Consular Reports on Trade and Finance, Germany. Report for the Year 1893 of the Trade of the Consular District of Danzig, London, 1894, 9; Foreign Office 1895, Annual Series, No. 1636, Diplomatic and Consular Reports on Trade and Finance, Germany. Report for the Year 1894 of the Trade of the Consular District of Danzig, London, 1895, 7.

42 “Foreign Report.” Timber Trade Journal, 12 February 1891.

43 Diplomatic and Consular Reports. Germany. Report for the Year 1898 on the Trade and Commerce of the Consular District of Danzig, London, 1899, 9.

44 Diplomatic and Consular Reports. Russia. Report for the Year 1899 on the Trade, Commerce and Agriculture of Poland and Lithuania, London, 1900, 20.

45 “Timber Trade of London.” Timber Trade Journal, 3 March 1900, 411; Diplomatic and Consular Reports. Germany. Report for the Year 1900 on the Trade and Commerce of the Consular District of Danzig, London, 1901, 9.

46 Diplomatic and Consular Reports. Germany. Report for the Year 1901 on the Trade and Commerce of the Consular District of Danzig, London, 1902, 10.

47 “The Trade of Danzig.” Timber Trade Journal, 29 August 1903, 703.

48 Diplomatic and Consular Reports. Russia. Report for the Year 1907 on the Trade, Commerce and Agriculture of Poland and Lithuania, London, 1908, 26–27.

49 “Germany. Danzig.” Timber Trade Journal, 24 March 1906, 780; “Prospects of the Export Trade from Russian Baltic Provinces.” Ibidem, 12 May 1906, 911.

50 Diplomatic and Consular Reports. Germany. Report for the year 1907 on the Trade and Commerce of the Consular District of Danzig, which comprises East and West Prussia, Posen and Silesia for the year 1907, London, 1908, 10–11.

51 In the Venetian Alps, this strategy had already been implemented at the end of the 16th century. Corazzol proposed to define the merchants who controlled the entire supply chain as “globalists” (Corazzol, 1997, 2016). In other European areas, it developed later, in parallel with the growth of the entire sector (Segreto, 2011, p. 64).

52 Diplomatic and Consular Reports. Germany. Report for the year 1910–12 on the Trade and Commerce of the Consular District of Danzig, which comprises East and West Prussia and Posen for the Year 1910–12, London, 1914, 10.

53 [GStA], Berlino, Ministerium für Handel unde Gewerbe, HA. Rep 120 E I, Nr 1417 and 1420, Fachschule Spezialia; F. Keyser, Danzig und seine neue technische Hochschule, Danzig, 1904); Stavorinus (1980), and Trzeciak (2020).