By the end of the 19th century, however, Germany, with much lower wages levels, had overtaken England in steel production, and was clearly dominant in the new technologies of electrical goods, chemicals, and dyes, as well as in many aspects of fine engineering. But Germany also swamped world’s markets with mass consumption goods: cheaper musical instruments than the traditional makers in France or Italy could produce, and lithographic prints used for Christmas cards and seaside postcards.
然而，到了19世纪末期，德国利用其低廉得多的工资水平，在钢产量上超过英格兰，并在电器、化工和染料产品等新技术以及许多精工领域占据了明显的优势地位。但德国同样以其大众消费品占领了世界市场：比法国和意大利的传统制造商生产的更为廉价的乐器和用于圣诞卡和风景明信片的平板印刷技术。