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Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16220, 24 May 1918, Page 6

The remarkable memorandum by Prince Lichnowsky which lias been circulated by tho Imperial authorities, ami of which wo print the greater part today, will bear its fruit in Germany in due time. Outside Germany, of course, there ha.s never been any doubt ab'out the real responsibility for the Avar, but the memorandum is of interest and value for tho fresh light it throws upon German policy. Although tho German Government was furiously angry with Prince Lichnowskv, it was unable to deny his allegations, which it could hardly deny without saying that the Prince was a reckless liar or an incurable idiot, and thorn is nobody in Germany or out of it who will accept cither hypothesis. Home of the German papers have already declared that tho memorandum destroys the idea that Germany was dragged into tho war in self-defence. The German people may be trusted to keep the Prince's revelations in mind. When peace returns, a great many people will find it difficult to '"get back to normal," so far. in so many respects, liavo we had to leave tho old standards and rules of peace time. It will be so hard to know what was the normal thing in peace-time; we shall all have to consult the newspapers of 1913. In Britain at tho present time tho widest departure from peace-time standards has been made in the important matter of food, and people havo been speculating upon how they will behave when rationI ing is 110 more. Inured to the idea of ' scarcity, they think that they may bo | unable to resist tho temptation to pur- | chase even though the larder at home

be full. In ono of Jack London's stories si gold-digger, returning: on foot from the Klondike, starves lor days, mid is rescued when at the point of death. When on board .the steamer, with plenty to eat and drink, ho packs Lis clothes with crusts and scraps of food, unable to get rid of the dread of futuro starvation. Similarly, English people, -when plenty returns, will still hare Lord Rhondda on their minds, an<l one English paper believes "it will be a. lons time before we can abandon the deferential attitude with which we now approach the family grocer." i The best promise of success for British industry after the war is not the enormous energy developed since tho war began, but the skill with which, the British manufacturer has filled tho gaps in trade and has adapted himself to tho new conditions. An interesting littlo illustration of this was recently given by a correspondent of tho "Westminster Gazette" apropos of tho fact that the Department of Overseas Trade had collected 10,000 samples of enemy goods such as could be made in Britain. In a busy Midland town this correspondent was taken over a factory which had been left Btranded by the war. Tho manufacturer wished to find some now employment for his hands, and he found it out of the fact that the snap-locks and tho metal frames of ladies' purses have hitherto been made in Austria or Germany, and chiefly in Austria. The purse-making industry has, therefore, been hard put to it to find locks and ' spring openings for purses. "However, tho problem of manufacture at homo, at a price that would competo not unsuccessfully with tho foreign supply if it were still being continued, has been quite satisfactorily solved. This was no ; easy matter, for the small and simplelooking purse-locks contain tivcntyseven separate and involvo I thirty-four processes of manufacture. ! What was to be found out was not only how tho locks were constructed, but what sort of machinery- was necessary for their production. The work is now I going full steam ahead: and there is no reason why the enemy should ever regain tho trade that he has lest." Before tho war few people would have holieved that so much enterprise could l>e displayed by the slow-going Britisr.cr. Tho English papers give some particulars of profiteering in Germany, quoting in particular the German Daimler Motor Company, whose shares have risen from £11 in 101 L to -C'oO. The company is said to Ito making excess profits at the rate of £2,1C0,000 a year, and it adopts .n very independent attitude in the matter. It charges the Government very high prices, and is reported to have threatened to slacken production if these prices were not increased by 50 per cent. One very remarkable profiteer is Count von Bclir Pinnow, Court Chamberlain to the Empress, whoso very singular hobby is tho selling of sacks to the srziy. Ho sold £1,350,000 worth, at a clear pro/it of £230,000. This transaction was ex-, posed in a judicial investigation, but tho Count still keeps his post at Court.