Emil Lederer: Review of Georg Gothein’s Agrarpolitisches Handbuch (1911)

Lederer’s brief review presents Gothein’s handbook as both a partisan resource and a useful introduction to agrarian politics. He first identifies its lexicon format and its political constituency:

Das im Auftrag des Handelsvertragsvereins unter Mitwirkung namhafter Politiker und Fachmänner von Gothein herausgegebene agrarpolitische Handbuch bringt in Form eines Lexikons unter prägnanten Schlagworten alles, was besonders in der politischen Agitation vom Standpunkt der städtischen, konsumierenden Bevölkerung aus gegen die herrschende Agrarhochschutzzollpolitik vorgebracht werden kann.

English translation: The handbook of agrarian policy edited by Gothein on behalf of the Commercial Treaty Association with the collaboration of eminent politicians and specialists presents, in the form of a lexicon under pithy catchwords, everything that can be brought forward, especially in political agitation, from the standpoint of the urban, consuming population against the prevailing policy of high agrarian protective tariffs.

The organizing opposition is between urban consumers and agricultural protectionism. Lederer then surveys the handbook’s reach, from European agrarian crises and settlement policy to taxation, agricultural labor, cooperatives, and tariffs. His mention of the conflict between peasants and the Bund der Landwirte also indicates that agricultural interests are internally divided.

The review’s evaluative turn rests on the relationship between political commitment and evidentiary value:

Die einzelnen Abschnitte sind durchweg auf Grund guter Quellen (und mit fortlaufender Angabe derselben) gearbeitet, sodaß dieses Handbuch nicht bloß als Hilfsmittel für die politische Agitation, sondern auch als Einführung in die Probleme der Agrarpolitik (allerdings von dem politischen Standpunkt Gotheins aus gesehen) betrachtet werden kann.

English translation: The individual sections are throughout worked out on the basis of good sources (with continuous citation of the same), so that this handbook may be regarded not merely as an aid for political agitation, but also as an introduction to the problems of agrarian policy (seen, to be sure, from Gothein's political standpoint).

Lederer does not erase the handbook’s standpoint; he argues that reliable, consistently cited sources make it instructive despite that commitment. Its vivid writing and abundant material reinforce this judgment. His concluding conceptual move broadens agrarian politics beyond customs and trade measures: agricultural interest representation penetrates public life, presenting itself as the expression of a worldview and seeking to shape society accordingly. The review’s significance lies in this shift from assessing a reference tool to identifying the wider political ambitions embodied in agrarian policy.