NOT WHAT THEY SEEM

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 157, 31 March 1937, Page 7

NOT WHAT THEY SEEM

Conditions in Germany ECONOMIC DISCIPLINE Quiet and contentment are not so widespread and rooted in Germany as speeches, mass gatherings and propaganda may suggest, says the Berlin correspondent of "The Times.” Loudon. Superficially there is. and should be. little cause for serious dissatisfaction. Herr Hitler and his regime have brought benefits unquestioned by the German mind; some of them unchallengeable anywhere.

There are organisation, order, discipline; the soothing sense of security in mass contact; identification with the national community and the State; less ordinary crime: canalised emotional outlets: "strength through joy” diversions in leisure hours — though some beneficiaries might prefer more food.

There are social and settlement schemes, developed since 1933 rapidly, systematically, lavishly, with a tinaneial system based upon an ever-pro-longed gamble on future prosperity. There is the reduction of unemployment and. associated and in some respects misleadingly confused with it. the substitution of salutary occupation for subsidised idleness.

There is the excellent labour service, expanded by the Nazis on compulsory lines, solving problems of youthful unemployment. There is Herr Hitler's special creation, the motor roads, an achievement in which Germany lias beaten the world. Most of these benefits have been made possible only by an economic system which is frequently described as neither precisely State Capitalism nor State Socialism, but wartime control economy without a war; and by a political and social system which might almost be likened to the British wartime Defence of the Realm Act many times intensified. The foundation of the whole structure was, and is, Germany’s successful struggle against the Treaty of Versailles, her recovery of her military sovereignty and prestige and her independence of the rest of the world. For since the consolidation of Nazi power every issue has been presented to the country in terms of a Germany with her back to the wall facing a hostile world. The causes of grumbling beneath the surface are solid enough. The food problem in cities has thrust itself disagreeably on the populace since the Olympic Games ended. The quality, but not the price, of many daily household necessaries has steadily deteriorated under synthetic experimentation. Although strikes are forbidden, there have been several on a small scale.

The praiseworthy efforts of National Socialism to break down class barriers are not making such progress ns earlier. Popular discontent is stimulated by periodical corruption and ex-

travagance scandals, which are eventually handled in a secrecy sometimes broken.

The system of discipline and compulsion. involving sacrifices of individual liberty without which, Herr Hitler himself constantly declares, his benefits could not be given to Germany, is still supported underneath by the concentration camp. These camps continue to exist, though only labour camps are mentioned to foreign visitors. Together with the camps goes the inevitable system of spying and denunciation.