Hans von Kanitz

Hans Wilhelm Alexander Graf von Kanitz-Podangen (17 April 1841 in Mednicken – 30 June 1913 in Podangen) was a German politician for German Conservative Party and Junker.

Life

Kanitz was born in Mednicken, in the Province of Prussia (now Drushnoye, Zelenogradsky District, Kaliningrad Oblast).[1] In 1894 he proposed the Kanitz Plan: an import monopoly for grain, whereby all grain imports would be made on the government's account and resold on the home market at a price calculated from the average price of the last 40 years.[2] If import prices were below this level, the profits would go into a reserve fund that would be used to subsidise imports when the price rose above the average.[2] As grain prices at that time were lower than they had been for most of the previous 40 years, the effect of the Kanitz Plan would have been considerable price rises.[2]

The Chancellors Leo von Caprivi and Chlodwig, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst both opposed the scheme, with the latter condemning it as a dangerous step to socialism.[2] August Bebel, the Chairman of the Social Democrats, replied that a policy to make one class wealthier at the nation's expense, especially at the expense of the working class, was anything but social.[2]

The Kanitz Plan was adopted in modified form by the Nazis and by the Federal Republic.[3]

From 1885 to 1913 Kanitz was member of Prussian House of Representatives. Kanitz was from 1890 to 1913 member of German Reichstag for German Conservative Party.

Notes

  1. ^ deutsche biographie (in German)
  2. ^ a b c d e Michael Tracy, Government and Agriculture in Western Europe, 1880–1988 (London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1989), p. 96.
  3. ^ Tracy, p. 97, p. 191, p. 269.
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