For some time past a variety of schemes had been ventilated in the Press with the object of improving German prestige abroad. It was said that in certain foreign parts Germany was being persistently and wrongfully abused, that she could obtain no fair hearing because the Press of those distant countries was in hands hostile to any German enterprise, and because the telegraphic agencies serving those countries were equally biassed. An "_Association for World-Commerce_" was to have remedied this evil by a persistent pro-German propaganda in the countries most bitterly complained of. It was hoped that the necessary funds could have been raised by contributions from all the trading and industrial societies interested in the German export trade, and, in view of the supreme importance to Germany of her export trade, it was intended that agents of the Association should be sent and stationed abroad to assist the exporting industries by timely advice and an active policy generally, such as private individuals could pursue more effectively than officials. The opportunity for realising this scheme seemed to offer itself under the following circumstances. A plan was being prepared to start a German-American Economic Society. Similar societies with an application to other countries already exist--_e.g._, a German-Argentine Society, a German-Canadian Society, a German-Russian Society, etc. The foundation of a German-American Society had been advocated in connection with the revision of the American tariff which gave German industries new chances of an intensified export to the United States. As was natural in any matters dealing with German-American affairs, M. Ballin, of the Hamburg-America Line, was approached to take the matter in hand. He consented. Under his inspiration the idea of a German-American Society was abandoned and the idea of a World Society was substituted. A preliminary meeting was held at which the various German-foreign societies were represented; there were present also representatives of the "Central Association of German Industrials," and of its great rival, the "Federation of Industrials," as well as of most of the leading industrial firms. Internal dissensions, however, soon appeared, and several important members sent in their resignations. The details of the foundation were to have been settled at a meeting convened for February 26th; to-day the whole scheme stands prorogued _sine die_. If it is ever realised its plan will have to be considerably altered. In the meantime the original plan of a German-American Society has been revived. This society is, in fact, to be constituted in Berlin early in March in the form originally intended.