The Press. Tuesday, December 19, 1916. Germany's Unpleasant Case.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15777, 19 December 1916, Page 6

The Press. Tuesday, December 19, 1916. Germany's Unpleasant Case.

It says much for Germany's skill in boasting and for Britain's skill in the art of self-dcpreciation that British people think less than they ought of the real effects of tho war upon tho German nation. People still incline to think of Germany as a' super-Power, ablo to achieve results impossible to Britain, France or Russia, abounding in secret ingenuities, capable in all things of surpassing any one of her enemies, almost superior to the very laws of nature. Yet the war has shown the absurdity of all these suppositions; Germany has not done better than she ought to have done after her long preparation, andhhre r military strategy has not been so good as it was expected to be. At ono time it was thought that Germany could be quickly starved; when peoplo realised that they had erred on this point, through their not understanding how vastly tho normal scale of consumption exceeds the scale cf sufficiency, they began to believe that economically Germany could support a war of any length whatever. This in its turp is also a mistake. The increasing forces of the Entente Powers require increased German forces to resist them, and this results in a double burden: there are greater forces to be supported, greater armies to be fed and supplied on the high scale neccssay to military efficiency, and the call for soldiers is lessening Germany's power of production. It is not for humanitarian reasons that Germany is now offering to talk about a settlement, but for the severely practical reason that Germany cannot hold out. The (JJerman people, it must be remembered, know little of the real facts of the situation, but what they do know must be shaking their hearts. They began the war joyously, believing that they were certain to arrive at a glorious victory in a short space of time; they are now asked to hold out in order to avert the complete destruction of their country. Obviously, they will do much to avert destruction, but just as obviously they have not had the best sort of preparation for tho work of holding out. A great mass of information concerning the internal situation in Germany confirms the opinion that tho hardships of the people are increasing and their depression and dissatisfaction growing. In September the bread situation was not serious, but the potato harvest was a failure, and the scarcity of • fodder was affecting the milk supply, and causing a shortase Of pigs. In Berlin pork may be sold only once a week; in Saxony, Bavaria and Wurtemburg the Imperial Meat Office ordered the reduction of pigslaughtering by one half. The "Deutsche Tageszeitung," an agrarian organ, said that the beef problem also was grave. It doubted whether supplies could be maintained. The meat supply, in fact, had become insufficient to supply the meagre ration of half a pound a week. Anj* New Zealand household could get along, rather uncomfortably, for a week on that ration ; the Germans have all been doing it for months, with no prospect of an improvement, and no hope of victory to sustain them. In Austria-Hungary the position is, of course, far worse than in Germany. The following figures indicate the ratios of the prices of various foodstuffs in Germany to the prices in July, 1914:—Beef, 198 per cent., bacon 219 per cent-., lard 276 per cent., butter 105 per cent., eggs 314 per cent., potatoes 125 per cent., milk 45J per cent., bread 48 per cent. In Austria, according to official figures, bacon has risen to 400 per cent. of the pre-war price, margarine 380 per

cent., eggs 37S per cent., beans 2/5 per cent., beef 353 per cent., flour 1/9 per cent., and so on. These figures represent the official "maximum prices" ; they do not in any way guarantee the supply of the commodities. It is no doubt true that the Allies cannot literally starve the Central Powers into submission ; they cannot, that is to say, keep up such a pressure that the German people will bo too thin to move about. But they can break the nation's moral. That that time is now within sight may be taken a3 admitted by the German offer to negotiate for peace.