GERMAN TRADE

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 10, 13 January 1927, Page 12

GERMAN TRADE

CONSTANT QUEST TOR MARKET.

Expert 1 German opinion was at'first inclined to attribute the recent marked improvement, in the country's industrial situation to the temporary..stimulus afforded by the British coal strilce. Lea'ding^financiers to-day are more optimistic, and^re: gard the improvement as due' rather to the steady production of new. capital now 1 taking place, within the German borders, to the improvement of' Germany's industries, and to the gradually increasing, purchasing power >of the German- consumer, writes the Berlin" correspondent of the "Daily Express." "-', . ' 'When I asked- Herr Wassermann, the .director, of ■. the Deutsche Bank, whether he thought that Germany had - reason. to fee] satisfied with her present' industrial outlook, he shook his head emphatically: Satisfied»" he said. "Not by' a long way."- ■ ' . . n ■>

'Certainly we have made headway, but, .not nearly, enough.- As long as there continues to-be such a great disparity between' the potential output of our vast industrial plant and the'actual demand for our goods: at home and abroad,, there, can be no question of full national prosperity. The-pre-sent embarrassment of the industrial nations of.Europe," he .continued, "is due nrst and foremost to the shrinkage in the purchasing power of consumers in many £* of the world. Russia, with its 130,----000,000 consumers, has ' ceased to -count "■ Herr Wassermann refuses,' however, to be pessimistic. "Experience and hard facts wi11,.1 am certain, in the long run," he said, force the Soviets to see the error o£ their ways. When the Russian 1 Government adopts an economic policy' which justines • outside capitalists in responding to then- appeals for loans and credits the -whole situation will be changed. "Germany is feeling keenly the lack of a market m south-eastern Europe Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, and the other Balkan btates have-not yet.regained anything like then- normal capacity as consumers. Iney need foreign money to develop their resources, but they '.are not likely to get this assistance.until full confidence is possible in their political discretion, and until the rumours of war cease to flicker' like summer lightning over the eastern end of the Mediterranean."

He-pointed to the map of, Europe hanging on the wall of his room.-"Look," he said at this patchwork of Lilliputian States .that now constitute the Continent of Europe. It almost looks as if it had been specially- contrived •to obstructs commerce with all sorts of red tape, passport and tariff restrictions.' It is nothrngfhort of- a .catastrophe, from the standpoint of economic progress, that' the statesmen who were entrusted with the task of fix-' ing these new boundaries ehould' have instead of taking-the opportunity to create larger economic-units tnan existed before 1