GERMANY FROM WITHIN

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2966, 3 January 1917, Page 6

GERMANY FROM WITHIN

i *— — , SCARCITY 0F LABOUR " A A r ISITOR'S NOTEBOOK' The opinion has been frequently expressed that Germany after the war will "'dump" enormous quantities of. , her manufactures in foreign markets. '. The. United States' has particularly leared au invasion of iier markets by ' cheap German manufactured products, ', but. an assuraneo to the contrary is published in tho'"New York 'World" of, .November 30 on the authority of ' iiir. Herbert liayard Swope, a stallcorrespondent, who lately returned from Germany. He declares that industrial conditions in Germany aro such that for ten, perhaps more, years : to come Germany and tno other belligerents, instead of being able to make goods for the outside world/ will not be able.to supply their own demands. She and tho others, they say, will need America, and ' the fear is that Germany will have to fight for her domestic markets instead of reaching out for the markets of America. "It is evident'," he continues, "that the empire to-day is far more concerned with the great difficulties of economical readjustment after the war than sho is with plans for external trade conquests. Apart from the financial troubles, I was told by the bankers and merchants, she will face a heavy scarcity of labour, that not even the employment of. women in work heretofore restricted to men will obviate. The high price labour will command is cer/ tain to restrict output, it is feared, and as one step toward remedying this condition, I was told unequivocally that Germany and Austria-Hungary will be certain to pass laws restricting, if not prohibiting, all emigration.' There can be no doubt as to the authority of this statement, and thus another chimera of the pessimists who foresaw a great influx of immigration is wiped out. It must be remembered that Germany now uses from: one and a quarter to one and a half million prisoners in her labour. This supply will end with peace." The same writer fiives some interesting random paragraphs concerning things in .Germany. He says: "Almost all tho horses, you see working iu ■tie.towns and fields aro white or fleabitten grey. ' All the other colours are used for army work: The whites are not —their colour is' too conspicuous. But the demand for horses has been so great i that even, the whites are used when they are young, being painted dark. The horses left for civilian purposes are the old ones. Most of those you find attached to the ancient droschkes on Unter den Linden in Berlin look as if they were cousins to the Fohippus that Noah took with him into the ark. .... The age of tho drivers correspond to the antiquity of their steeds. Most of them are old grey beards, hut, D.y way:of paradox, their girths, aro as great as those of their horses are small." In spite" of the leather shortage, the German soldier still clings to his boots. The bulk of the- Gorman soldiery is recruited from the agricultural class, which has been accustomed to boots and does not willingly use other footwear. ' Paternalism in government has been worked out to such a degree in Germany that even the housewives aro instructed at what time they can put up their preserves and in -what quantities, and at what prices they may buy their fruits. All the Scandinavian steamship lines i are earning huge profits these days. Tho Holland-America line is also doing well,- but because its ships have to go all the way around England and Scotland now, because they aro not permitted to pass tho English Channel between England and France, the journey usuallytakes longerthan for the ships leaving from Christiania, Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Bergen. Most of the Germans seem quite sure that Italy and Bumania were bought by the Allies, and they talk of Sonnino of. Italy and Bratiano of Rumania as they do of Venizelos of Greece, as having been- bought and paid for by England. Reversely, those nations and those newspapers which have- supported Germany's cause aro actuated only—in German eyes—by highest ethical motives. Nothing is permitted to be' carried off the battlefields as souvenirs. The debris is carefully sorted over, and every article that German ingenuity can bring into usefulness again is sent back to the Jepot. Throughout tho Empire they aro collecting stations for all sorts of things —old bottles, shoes, pieces of rubbei'i news and wrapping papers, brass, steel, copper, tin, string, rags—nothing is thrown away. Unco a month from every city and village these articles are gathered up and worked over. Anyono sending a telegram to points within or without the empire, or who sends a telegram in German or any other language to a, foreign country, must show a passport if he be a stranger, or.his offifßcial identification card if he be a native. This is another ceremonial calculated to restrict employment of the wires, thereby reducing labour, and also to minimise the danger of espionage communication. . Postal rates havo been increased throughout tho empire. Open letters that used to • cost 2} pfennigs now cost five; domestic mail that was formerly- carried for 5 pfennigs now costs ■7£; foreign mail has been raised from 20 to 25 pfennigs. On many of the street car lines the rates have been increased from 2.} to 5 pfennigs. Even while the increase they are cheaper for short hauls than ttie costs in America. The City of Berlin is proud of the record it has made- in having contributed as a municipality a total of 170,000,000 marks (nominally 42,500,000 dol.) for war relief and for subscriptions for the'war bonds. ■' In the schools, which are run full time, there are now many mqro women thaii men toachers. This is a shift from the German scholastic ideal, which insisted on men teachers for the boys. ■ ■• ■ The women of Berlin, Munich, Leipzig, Hamburg, and the other big towns may bo suffering, hut they positively decline to undergo tho extra, privations of being deprived of the Paris styles. Tlioy get the latest, models through Borne. Tho couturiers call them "Viennese," but the ladies know what they get when they buy them. Cover! Cover I Cover! That is the rule of war. That is why the greygreen uniforms of tho German soldiery were selected. It blends best with the brown, yellow, and green of the fields and forests. Even the wicker cases in which the" Germans transport their artillery shells are painted green. Bombproofs are always covered with exactly the same foliage as is found about the places in which they ore built. Trench parapets are never left with the fresh earth exposed to aeroplane observation, but are carefully tamped down with tho top soil and then covered with grasses from tbo surrounding fields. 1 The attitude of tho German people toward tho big men of the Government is curiously mixed. I could not find one singlo dissonant note in tho chorus of support, sympathy, admiration, and affection that the Kaiser's name always calls out. The people go wild'over von Hinclonburji—lie is their idol Mackenseti is another who is enshrined. Fal•kenhayn was always rather distrusted. Bofchniann-Hollwog is pitied,_ and his good intentions are appreciated, although there is a belief that ho lacks forcoi iVpn Jaeow, the Secretary, for

Foreign Affairs, seems to lack the confidence of tho public. He is looked upon, as a relic of the old school of German diplomacy, to which the Germans attribute a large share of their present misfortunes. Jagow is of a subtle, casuistic, indirect Mctnernich type, and because of the Germans' lack of confidence in their Diplomatic Corps this ultra-diplomatic type is no longer popular in. the empire. On the other hand, Zimmerman, Chief Permanent ". Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, is : a man of the people—big, broad, sim--1 pie, direct, forceful, andmagnetic. Hfi i is the man who will bulk big on the German stage when it is reset by the Liberals, who are now engaged in a ! life and death struggle with the Con- ! servatives for tho Fatherland. Ham and baeon and hog meat aro to ■ he had only one day' a week—on Thursdays. Medicines of all sorts -are issued ' by the druggists only on prescription; ' the stocks aro to be. touched only in case of necessity. Alcohol and other inflammable spirits are to be bought ' onlv with special written permission. ! No liquors jof any sort, except beer ' and wine, aro sold after 9 o'clock at night. ' Illumination at nicht is reduced as mnch as possible. This is to save co.il and gas. . To make the material for shoes more plentiful and cheaper, all leather imimifactnros have been sharply curtailed. Much of the scarcity in food is ' caused, not by the insufficiency in crops, hut hy the lack of man and ' horso labour "to gather and distribute ' tho harvests.