The purpose of this paper is to analyze the development of the railroad business as the core business of the South Manchuria Railway Co. (SMR) with a focus on the significance of SMR's efficiency and profitability. The SMR became part of the Japanese Empire's railway network after the 1904-05 Russo-Japanese War. It was founded on occupied railways and military railways of the Russo-Japanese War, so large-scale investments were made early on. Thereafter, many workers were dispatched to these facilities and additional investments were made. The fact that the SMR was less capital intensive than other railways signifies that labor-intensive railroad management and capital savings policies were implemented. The SMR was also characterized by a freight-centered transport structure under which freight transport saw steady increases by comparison with passenger transport. In particular, the SMR sought improvements in frequency of train operation, load efficiency, car allocation capabilities, and the concentration of transportation, in order to cope with the temporal and spatial fluctuations involved in freight transport. Demand for passenger transportation was secured through improvements in passenger-car quality and train operating speed. Needless to say, car usage efficiency rose as a result; improvements in efficiency were also made possible by decreasing the ratio of cars under repair. The SMR achieved extremely high levels of capital and labor productivity and a highly efficient railroad management system in comparison with other railways. This was accompanied by economies of scale, so that profit rates showed a long-term trend upwards from the SMR's founding until the end of the 1920s. After the state railways of Manchukuo and the Hamgeongbuk-do portion of the Korean National Railways were commissioned to the SMR after the 1931 Manchurian Incident, the SMR's productivity decreased abruptly and its profitability also deteriorated. The efficient management system that had been built up by the SMR was thereupon extended throughout Manchuria and efficiency improvements confirmed in the entire Manchurian railway network, including the state railways. During the war, new demand and supply adjustments were made to achieve improvements in efficiency. However, the substitution of land transport for marine transportation had a negative effect on efficiency and profitability. The SMR, which had been established in wartime and had prospered in peacetime, eventually reached its limits and collapsed under wartime conditions.

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In 1932 Great Britain and the overseas dominions adopted the Ottawa Conference monetary resolutions and paved the way for the formation of the sterling bloc. At the same time, the British Government took the initiative in convening the 1933 World Economic Conference to develop a cooperative approach to world economic recovery. The central preoccupation of British Treasury officials at the World Conference was to bring about a general rise throughout the world in wholesale price levels and to redress the worldwide imbalances of payments. In pursuing this objective, Britain's bargaining strategy was to agree to an eventual return of sterling to the gold standard in exchange for concessions from the United States and France, an ultimate objective of which was to rebuild normal conditions in the international economy so as to raise world prices. A rise in world prices was expected to keep off widespread defaults of the primary-producing debtor countries and prevent further losses on the income from British foreign investment and thus to improve the deteriorating balance of payments and ultimately to build up world confidence in sterling. This bargaining strategy of the British Government was overturned by the American decision to abandon the gold standard: the World Conference ultimately collapsed as a result of President Roosevelt's "bombshell" message. After the failure of the World Conference, Britain and her imperial partners issued the Empire Declaration and re-affirmed the sterling bloc's Ottawa policy, which at first glance appeared to be extremely loose and passive. Countries were welcomed to join the sterling bloc, but had to decide to do so on their own judgment. The loosely structured sterling bloc, however, was secured by the "sane management of sterling" and by building up external confidence in sterling, to which British Treasury officials attached the greatest importance. Unstable currencies sought to stabilize exchange rates by pegging to sterling, enabling sterling to win prestige as an exchange stabilizing apparatus and to retain the allegiance of other currencies. The sterling bloc, however, was not influential enough to effect a thorough cure of Britain's deteriorating balance of payments. Sterling's foreign exchange position became vulnerable with the approach of World War II. It was not long before the pound sterling submitted to the financial hegemony of the dollar.

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This essay investigates the social and historical significance of the 1920 law, "Zwangsauflosungsverordnung", which sought to abolish "entailed estates (Fideikommiss)" in Prussia in order to create "wood farms (Waldgut)". The fall of monarchism in Germany after the First World War led inevitably to the abolition of the entailed estates in conformity with Article 155 of the Weimar Constitution. This essay inquires into Prussia's forest issues by examining the so-called "entailed forest (Forstfideikommiss)", the institution so highly regarded by Max Weber in his 1904 writings. Based on primary materials in the Berlin-Dahlem Archive (Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz), I begin with a statistical survey of entailed forests in general. Next, based on the conclusions and propositions made in 1920 by the Forestry Committee in Germany (Reichsforstwirtschaftsrat), I examine the correlation of entailed estates and forest issues. Finally, I compare the "wood farms" in question with "reserved forest (Schutzforst)", another concept in the 1920 law. The essay ends with some critical suggestions for further research into Prussian forestry history.

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