THE ECONOMIC WAR

Evening Post, Volume XCV, Issue 45, 21 February 1918, Page 7

THE ECONOMIC WAR

GERMANY NOT ALARMED, 'WORLD CANNOT AFFORD A BOYCOTT. (Received February 21. 9.30 a.m.) AMSTERDAM, 20th February. The Hamburg Nachrichten urges preparations for an "economic offensive" after the war. German manufacturers have, in the past three years, accumulated large reserves of finished products, chemicals, dyes, machinery, toys, and scientific appliances, whiph are to be launched upon the world's markets at the moment when peace is concluded. This will help to • pay \ for the raw materials to be imported. The threats of an economic boycott, says the paper, are only a British bluff. The world, needing Ger-man-made goods, -will turn a deaf ear to attempts to continue the . trade war. Brazil has a million tons of coffee which only Germany can take. Argentina will readily sell Germany her vast surpluses of wool, and the Central and South American markets are so enormous that German buyers are in no danger of being shut out.

•Even American cotton, copper, and rubber, and Australian spelter, will bo at Germany's disposal. Dr. Solf, who retains tho title oE Colonial Secretary, travels frequently to Hamburg, and heartens the people with orations about the magnificent prospects that will open up after the war in Africa, the South Seas, and Australasian waters. "We shall possess the old colonies," he says, "rounded off to suit the new conditions. In spite of London's bragging, tho fate of the colonies depends upon Hindenburg and Ludendorff, and not on English politicians."