THE COLONIES CLAIM

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 108, 3 November 1937, Page 7

THE COLONIES CLAIM

A SPEECH B¥ HITLER

"IMBECILE" FOREIGNERS \

Herr Hitler again referred to Germany's colonial claims at the annual Harvest Thanksgiving '■ Festival on the Buckeberg, to which 1,200.000 farmers and agricultural workers had been brought from all parts of the Reich, reported the Berlin correspondent of "The Times" on October 3. The festival has been made the occasion of a campaign, conducted under the slogan "Bread is holy," for economy in the consumption of bread, in view of the indifferent grain harvest and the necessity of giving preference in imports to raw materials for industry. Herr Darre, the Minister of Agriculture, who spoke before Herr Hitler, frankly warned the German people, who hava already been required lo cut down their consumption of beef, pork, butter, and eggs, that they must now cut down th» consumption of bread in favour of potatoes.

Herr Hitler attributed their difficulties to Germany's lack of space and, speaking in. tones of great bitterness, gave (without referring to it directly) Mr. Eden's Geneva speech a short and sharp reply. He said:—

"We have tremendously difficult problems to solve and no one helps us. We must solve them and finish with them ourselves. The surrounding world has only imbecile comments to make upon them, shows lack of comprehension, and stupidity. When we say that our living-room is too small and must without question be supplemented by colonies, a wiser head raises itself in the world and jabbers: 'What use are colonies? They would be of no use to you. You can buy what you need'—we are as clever as that. For if they had not fleeced us for fifteen years we could buy today. There are people who say that riches are a burden. . . . One would imagine that if they were so heavy a burden the bearers would be pleased to give up a little of them. But that is the only thing they will not do. COLONIES AS A BURDEN. "There are other nations which say, 'Colonies are a heavy burden/ But they do not want to relieve themselves of any part of this burden. They say, 'Colonies have no value.' But in spite of that they do not desire under any circumstances to hand back these worthless possessions to their legal owners. When I speak of legal owners, tben I do so only in a world and an era that is filled with ideas of Leagua of j Nations morality and decency. (Laughter.) It was in accordance with these ideals that we acquired our colonies, and it was in accordance with other principles, which from the standpoint of League of Nations morality are most severely to be condemned, that we lost our colonies. "We face more difficult problems than other States and other countries," continued Herr Hitler. "We have top many people in such a small livingroom, a shortage of raw materials, of agricultural acres." Despite that he claimed Germany had become more beautiful as the result of work', industry, and a superior organisation. The performances by the armed forctes (an annual event at the Harvest Thanksgiving); would remind them that: they would not stand there that day if a shield and sword did not keep watch over them. They had peace—but only because the German arms kept guard over it. ( ' ' Herr Hitler went on to ascribe the rise of Germany to. four main fac-y tors:— ''■.'* 1; The establishment in place of disputing classes, confessions, and parties of a German nation which had been convinced that only as a nation and,not as a collection of unruly individuals could it continue to exist. 2. The, establishment of one authority, which had, obligations to , no one but the German nation. 3. Above all, the fashioning of ona will in Germany. So long as the German people ranged themselves under one single will, all problems could be solved. When he (Herr Hitler) ordered the occupation of the Rhineland in the previous year the decisive factor was not the movement of the troops, but that the whole German nation went with him. 4. Work, or production, was,everything in Germany, whereas in other countries money was" everything. THE STABLE MARK. Today, the Fuhrer continued, they could look upon the extraordinary spectacle of currencies collapsing in countries full of gold and Devisen, while, in Germany, where no gold or Devisen stood behind the currency, the mark remained stable. That was because work stood behind the market, and work was ; the safest currency, as it was the safest cover for a .currency. The problem of the' German currency was not an • artificial money problem, but a problem of labour organisation, of putting men into work and then of distributing the results of the work. Therein lay the German miracle; it was only a miracla of common sense. The German people had learned that money in itself played no role, and that they could buy nothing which others had not created for them. The solution of the German living problem was therefore one of their increasing efficiency and production. . Herr Darre in his speech said that the proportion of Germany's foodstuffs imported from abroad had been reduced from 25 per cent, in 1932 to 17 per cent, in 1936. Milk production remained at the same level, as in 1933, although fodder imports had been reduced by half. To appreciate these achievements, ha continued, it must be kept in mind thai the consumption of foodstuffs had increased in consequence of the.relntroduction of 6,000,000 workless, into employment Although the population was as large as in 1914 and the area of cultivable land had been reduced by 14.3 per cent, through the Versailles Treaty, food imports had been reduced from 6,000,000,000 marks before the war and 4,800,000,000 in 1927 to 1,500,000,000 in 1936. He appealed to the German housewife to prevent every avoidable waste of the products Of the German soil, and particularly to show more respect for bread. Black bread was to be preferred, not only because there was more rye than wheat in Germany, but because rye bread was healthier.