A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 113, 6 February 1939, Page 7

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

British Agriculture The new Minister of Agriculture, Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith, considers that action must (be swift and direct if Britain is to achieve the necessary expansion of food production from her own soil. If they expected the workers to return to the land they must have a fair deal, he added. Statistics show that in England and Wales the number of agricultural workers had declined each year since 1933, and in 1937 the reduction amounted to 8900 In numbers the greatest decrease occurred among the regular male workers of 21 years of age and over, but proportionately the greatest decrease, was among casual male workers under 21 years of age, the decrease in this case amounting to- nearly 9 per cent. In 1937 a further decrease of 96,000 acres took place in the arable area, which was reduced to 9,024,000 acres Diminished acreages were recorded in 1937 for almost all corn, root and vegetable crops. Live stock maintained approximately the same figures, but agricultural holdings decreased by about 1000 in 1936 to 370,108. At the close of 1937 the average minimum wage for ordinary adult male workers was 33/4. It Is now 34/7 a week. Actual wages are higher, estimated to be 40/- a week, because manj Workers regularly earn overtime pay. ■‘Siegfried Line” The German authorities consider that the “Siegfried Line" is strong enough to resist all forms of attack made upon Siegfried Line, Germany’s Western fortifications, is Herr Hitler’s reply to the French Maginot Line. It has been described as “a line of steel ami concrete pyramids running like a road over bills and down valleys from the north to the south extremities of the Western frontier.” Photographs reveal these obstacles as great concrete blocks, with teeth like cog-wheels. It is claimed that a tank would come to grief on these low obstructions at whatever angle it attacked. Behind the pyramids lie chain upon chain of machine-gun nests, suppoited by fortresses, dug deep into the earth, in which thousands of men are housed. They have elaborate kitchens, running water and fully-equipped administrative offices, with an electric light supply that cannot be put out of action by shells or bombs. Even the smallest machine-gun outposts have sanitary and cooking equipment. The German military command does not favour an entirely underground system like the Maginot Line, add Dr. Todt, Herr Hitler’s architectural expert, who built the Keich motor'roads, has evolved a system of forts wbjch are not dependent on each other, though they are connected over land. Great importance is attached to camouflage, and the works have been covered with earth, in which plants, grass, trees, shrubs and even crops, will grow. Portugal And Britain The British Foreign Office considers that 'the military mission to Portugal bad strengthened the friendship uniting the defence forces of the two countries. Britain has a centuries-old treaty with Portugal based on mutual benefit. In return for the strategic value to Britain of the close association, Portugal can rely on Britain’s guarantee of independent stature as x a nation. From the outbreak of the Spanish. Civil War' Portugal showed a partiality for General Franco. There was thus a danger that Italy and Germany would gain a footing in Portugal. The Portuguese Government skilfully played on the position in order to obtain modern artillery and other weapons from Britain, threatening otherwise in get supplies from Italy anil Germany. Therefore (treat Britain sent pver a military, naval and air mission to Portugal about the middle of last year to reorganize the Portuguese forces and to maintain the * traditional friendship. Wilson And War The German Press is describing President Roosevelt as another Woodrow Wilson and a warmonger because of his abandonment of the policy of neutrality as against the totalitarian States. ‘Tn spite of Germany’s invasions of our rights,” 'said Colonel House, “the American people did not want war. Woodrow Wilson went to war [the Great War, 1914-18] against their will —and against his own.” A biographer of Woodrow Wilson has said: “If it bad not been for House, Wilson . . . would have drifted, reluctantly, into war with Great Britain. With House beside him, the President drifted, against his will, but less reluctantly, into war with the Kaiser.” German Finances Tlie dismissal of Dr. Schacht is seen as a victory for those in Germany who favour the huge rearmament programme. The effect of that programme on Germany’s economic life has been explained by Bernard Wolbarst I-ev- \ more. Official figures, he said, declared the Reich debt at the end of August, 1937, to equal 23,821,200,000 marks. The Reich’s so-called secret debt, he placed, conservatively, at 20,000,000,000 marks; the' State and municipal debts at 11,60(1.000,000 marks; the Austrian Federal Government debts at another 1,900.090,000 marks. Tills total of 60,000,000,000 marks, he said, compared with a Reich debt, including federal, State, and municipal obligations, of 24,300,000,000 when Hitler came to office. “If Germany’s rightful share of the Czech debt is included, this total must be raised.” He asserts, “real wages have declined, working hours have been lengthened, ami there is a scarcity of food and raw materials. ... ' “Total wages and salaries for 1938 have lieen estimated by Hitler at 41.5._ billion marks, compared with 1-1.47- billion marks in 1929 and 39.69 ii.iiion-s jn 1932. This despite full employment. tax and customs revenues have been estimated by Hitler for 1938 at 17 billion marks, compared with 9.17 in 1929, and 13.96 in 1932. . . . “The total currency circulation has increased from 5,352,000,000 marks when Hitler came to power to 9,069,090,000 marks. The inflationary trend is no longer one which can be hidden. . . . “There is no German economic miracle. Germany is using her capital, accumulated over a long period of rears, for non-productive construction tn the end this wealth will have been drained, and only a dream will remaitf to finance upkeep and new activity.”