The Dominion TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1918. AUJUST DEMAND

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 309, 24 September 1918, Page 4

The Dominion TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1918. AUJUST DEMAND

Some days ago a member o! the New Zealand Press delegation now in London, in thanking Mr. A. J. Balvouh for his'able speech on the latest hypocritical Peace Note of. the Central Powers', made a remark that should find very cordial endorsement throughout the civilised .world.- Ho expressed the hope that at the end of the day, in the peaceterms, "Germany would ho compelled to .pay indemnities to the fullest measure." In the history of tho human race no predatory nation ever equalled Germany in its criminality in war. Mrs, Shelley created by her imagination in her poem Frankenstein a moral _ monster, the terror of his species, a half involuntary criminal, and finally an outcast whose end was self-destruction. Germany is the Frankenstein among the nations; but her criminality was deliberate and voluntary, and she must shoulder the responsibility of her wrongdoing and be made to make compensation for the ruin she has done. In the highest region Germany can make no reparation for her crimes. She has slain millions of precious lives, maimed millions of human bodies, and broken millions of human hearts. She has crucified small nations like Belgium; Serbia, and Armenia. For the. worst crimes of the Kaiser, arid his war lords there can bo neither atonement nor reparation. Even if these master criminals are held personally responsible, as they ought to be, for the crimes- committed in their-name and under their authority the demands of retributive justice will-go in a great measure unsatisfied. But there is a region in which an adequate indemnity can be'exacted from Germany. For her offences against property—her colossal robberies, her destruction of ships at sea and buildings - on the land—she should be made to pay to the uttermost farthing. It would be only just if she- were made, to pay the enormous war bills of Britain and her Allies. Germany has resources out of which she could pay ah enormous indemnity.

The loss of material treasure caused by this German-made war is not confined to the war bills of the Allies. _ Germany has been an artist in robbery, and has carried war on in a, cheap way. M. Andre Chebadame,v the distinguished French authority on the Near East question, published tho other month an informing little volume entitled German War Profits. Take tho matter of labour. Tho Allies have had to brings labourers from China and other distant regions at great cost, but Germany; has forced tho people in the territory she has. subjugated to toil for her, for a, slave's hire, and without a slave's comfort. This stolen labour would amount to many millions of Ipounds. In the early' days of the war French wool to the value of £22,000,000 came into her hands, and a year or so ago she stole from,tho Belgian banks £24,000,000, tho property of subjects of the Allies. In the, early days of the War she captured "the largest part of the- coal and iron mines of Franco in tho valley of the Bricy, and on the spot shehad iron to turn into guns and shells to kill the French. Wherever she has gone she has confiscated milways, industrial plants, and other works, without a penny of compensation, and in many cases transferred them to Germany. Private houses and public museums have been looted, l loans have been forced, and war taxes levied in every region her mailed list has struck terror. During the first three years of the war Germany's war bill was only half of that of Britain, per head of population, and a fourth less than that of France, bocause' of her colossal robberies, In her sea pirate warfare she has destroyecl endless millions' worth of shipping. Baro jutticc demands that she should be compelled to compensate the victims of these criminal robberies and extortions.

A heavy indemnity laid on Germany in tho day of victory will bo one of the best ways of teaching her to hato war and love peace, Her wars in modern times have always meant material profit and not loss: and it was this fact among others that led Nietzsche to say: "Yo shall love neace as a means to new wars and tho short peace, more than the long." German cities for thirty years and more have been plastei/ed with monuments mado out of the French indemnity money of IS7O, and the people have been trained to believe that war always pays. If the natural resources' of Germany were taxed for years to pay an indemnity this error would speedily die; Germany is not a poor country, and can well pay an indemnity. A few months before tho war broke out a German university professor pointed Out tho wealth of Germany in an article in our Quarterly Revicit. He said that tho export trade of Germany in 1912 amounted to £1,000,000,000, and that the collective wealth of Germany was £16,000,000,000. But the wealth of Germany, when we consider what might be called her freehold securities, is much greater than this last figure. The Fortnightly Review, in its June and July issues, contains articles wnich prove with great fullness the. colossal wealth of Germany and her ability to'pay compensation for her crimes. In mineral wealth alone Germany is richer than any other country in Europe. She owns 50 per cent, of all the coal mines of Europe, 25 per cent, of the .«On mines, and she has almost a mono-,! poly of potash—of great value as a* fertiliser, but which is used in a score of industries. The Fortnightly Review says that her wealth in these minerals alone is as follows:— £ Coal, nt 10s. per ton ... 211,678,f100,0f1tl Iron, at ss. per (on 1,000,000,0110 Potash, at 10s. per ton ... 25,000,000,000

•237,078,000,000 The other month Britain's colossal national debt, incLiding loa_ns. to Allies and to the Dominions, amounted to £7,000,000,000, but even that tremendous sum is only about the thirty-fourth part of the value of these- minerals. The New Zealand journalist quoted at the beginning of this article had reason and justice on his sido when he stressed the question of indemnities. In its total scope- the question is difficult and complex, but at least it is a matter of simple justice that Germany should bo required, out of

her vast material resources, to as far as possible make good the havoc she has wrought in the world.