The press WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 1918. Lessons of the Leipsic Fair,

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16212, 15 May 1918, Page 6

The press WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 1918. Lessons of the Leipsic Fair,

There afe tw6 iteins in tho prosent issue .of "Tho Press'' which should afford to • every patriotic. British subject material for seriOUs consideration. The first is ■ & cable WeSSage describing the great annual fair at Leipsic, which has not only hfcell held as usual this year, in spite of the war, but has proved a decided success. Matiy Bulgarian, Swedish, and Norwegian bttyets, we are told, participated. The Germans, it appears, afo not only producing substitutes for various articles of food, but are manufacturing large quantities of cheap fancy goods made from substitute raw materials, which are cheaper and more plentiful ■ and durable than those of the . original raw materials made before the war.

The second item to which wo would direct attention is the interesting and important letter from our well-informed: Swiss correspondent. Mrs Grande, in •which she describes, on the authority of a Swiss banker friendly to England, tho very systematic preparations which are being made by Germany to recover, and if possible (extend, her tradd after the > war. That her organisation is typically thorough there can be no question. • There is, first of all, a "Trade Oommis- " aionera' Office for the Transition /'Period," with u Hamburg Senator at its head. Then there is . , a Commercial Cabinet of ten members, all honorary, including men "occupying a prominent position in the banking, shipping, and industrial worlds. Then there is a Commercial Parliament of ,398 members, representative of every department of trade, industry, and commerce," formed for the purpose of pooling their experience, in- . ; formation, and energy for carrying ■ on with the utmost vigour the oommer- - cial -war which we still have to face •when militarism has said its last word, : and tie belligerents have laid down , their arms. The Swiss financier interim/■ viewed by our Correspondent expresses the opinion that the English people are ..either ill-informed as to what is going in Germany, or else are even now wakened np by the war. j Swiss, a merchant, said bluntly j JSSC PSOTte, Jlgtepg

"they do something, and a great deal, "at once to counteract all this German. " commercial plotting and scheming, " will be as unprepared for the commer- " cial war after the war; as they wero "in 1914 for the war on the battle- " fields."

We do not believe that the importance of preparation for "'the war after the " war" is altogether being lost sight of in Great Britain. Even if the Government are not bestirring themselves so actively in the matter a-s they ought to do. there are signs that the great leaders of shipping, commerce, and industry are preparing for the fray. The Allies have a great advantage in tho fact that they command the sources of supply of some of the most important, raw materials, particularly those connected with what are called tho key industries. The position of Germany in this respect is made greatly worse by the entry of the United States and Argentina into the war. We hope the Allies will not lightly surrender these advantages, at any rate until there is reasonable security that Germany will not abuse any relaxation in her favour. But what about tho rubbish made front substitutes of all kinds with which tho Germans are preparing to flood the markets as soon as they are allowed to do so? Are there any residents in the British Empire so besotted with a desire to buy anything that appears

cheap, no matter how nasty it may be, that they will oven turn to German substitutes instead of relying on tho honest wares of their own countrymen? We hopo tho lessons of the war will mako such folly impossible, at any rate for a generation to come.