DEMAND FOR COLONIES

Evening Star, Issue 22913, 22 March 1938, Page 12

DEMAND FOR COLONIES

THIS BUSINESS OF MANDATES GERMAN CLAIMS FLACED UNDER TEST The great Bismarck used to say that no colony was worth the bones of a single Pomeranian soldier. For Germany, he complained, ” this colonial business is like the silken robes of the noble families in Poland who have no shirts to their backs.” Nevertheless the young Kaiser Wilhelm 11., seeking ” a place in the sun,” as it was called in his day, and intent on outstripping the British Navy, encouraged swashbucklers like the notorious Karl Peters to acquire territories in Africa from native chiefs (writes A. L. Brient, in the Melbourne ‘ Argus ’). At one time the German flag flew over approximately 1,000,000 square miles of territory, comprising German East Africa (of unpleasant memory), the Oameroons, Togoland, and Southwest Africa, where the number of Herreros fell from 85,000 to a bare 15,000. Later she was to obtain German New Guinea, Samoa, and the Marshall and the Caroline Islands, but so unwilling were the Germans to migrate to distant parts that by 1914 the entire white population of all the colonies did not exceed 20,000. This comparative handful controlled the fortunes of approximately 20,000,000 natives, who were probably very thankful that the Teutonic incubus was not greater. NOT A COLONISING NATION. The Germans have never been a colonising people, as is shown by the immense numbers of them to be found m the great cities of the world. There are more Germans in New York than there are in Cologne, and probably there are never fewer than 30,000 at

iy given time in London, Liverpool, and Manchester.

Compare these figures with the tiny fraction which occupied the colonies in the pre-war days. In this respect the Germans resemble the Italians. At the time of the Abyssinian invasion Signor Mussolini, like the Germans to-day, made a great fuss about the need for an outlet for surplus people, yet adjoining Eritea, from which the attack on the Ethiopians was launched, provides a livelihood for only 84 Italian families!

It is the same in Libya and in Somaliland, and probably it will be the same in Abyssinia So much for the argument that Germany wants an outlet for her people. Indeed, as a group of members of the Royal Institute of International Affairs points out in a recent survey of raw material and colonies, the white population in all the tropical settlements throughout the world would not equal the increase of German' population in a single recent year. REASON FOR NON-MIGRATION. Nor has the stoppage of migration, which has led to the banking up of peoples in already crowded Europe, been due to the selfish attitude of what the Germans are fond of calling the “ Have ” Power. The Germans, of course, tearfully describe themselves as being among the “ Have Not.” The very simplicity of the description is apt to deceive. .Migration was checked after the war by such self-governing countries as the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand solely for economic reasons brought about by the war. /

All of them have had, and still have, their own unemployment problems despite the so-called opportunities that they possess for relief. In fact, if you take notice of population density figures, which is a favourite device with the German Colonial Party speakers, you will find that Great Britain, which is the greatest Colonial Power in the world, has 18 more people to the square mile of arable land than Germany and 120 more than Italy. Last year more people returned to England from the oversea portions of the Empire than left its shores!

Great Britain, too, actually produces less food than Germany, and is obliged to buy the great proportion of what she consumes from markets oversea. These are equally open to other countries.

Take nest the raw materials for industry—coal, iron, petroleum, cotton, and rubber. With the exception of rubber practically none of these is to be obtained in the countries which can be said to come within the scope of Germany’s colonial claims. There is more rubber for sale in the countries producing it than the world’s buyers require. France is one of the “ Have ” Powers. With » vast colonial empire she is in exactly the same situation as Germany in the matter of raw materials; and so are Belgium and Holland, also possessing colonial empires.

When the British cotton trade was at its peak all the ra,w material was purchased from foreign countries. The United States built up the greatest motor manufacturing industry in the world with no rubber or tm of her own. From these facts there does not seem to be any ground for Germany’s claim to colonies, either as an outlet for population or even as sources of raw materials.

There remain prestige and militarv strategy. In the book, ‘ Mein Kampf/’ Herr Hitler thought so little in those directions that he supported Bismarck’s opposition to colonialism. He preferred to spend Germany’s money and energies in extending her frontiers in Europe. Why has he changed his mind? Remember that two years ago he ordered' the Colonial Party to cancel a huge demonstration for which the most elaborate preparations had been made. Yet to-day he says that “without space Germany has no room to grow food for her people.” Is Herr Hitler hoping, by drawing us on, to prove to the world out of our own mouths that what Germany really wants is not overseas colonies but an extension of territory in Europe? Hojwever, to _ return to the propaganda upon which he now so benignly smiles. In February of last year his Ambassador, Herr von Ribbentrop, approached the British Government, only to be told that any transfer of mandates which he had suggested “ would raise great difficulties, to which His Majesty’s Government had been unable to find a solution ” Ribbentrop went straight to the Leipzig Fair and declared that f* a remedy must be found either by returning Germany’s colonies or by Germany’s own strength.” Since then there have been sneers in the German Press at Australia’s nonuse of her vast areas. As if Australia would surrender any of her territory to Germany, not to speak of Italy and Japan, even for the sake of obtaining that general peace which we all desire!

VIEWS OF RESIDENTS. It is the same with Great Britain and her mandates, unless, of course, the people occupying those territories asked for a transfer, which they show no sign of doing at present. The mandates were not taken from Germany to be returned to her when she became

good. In January, 1919, at Versailles, General Smuts, the originator of the idea of mandates, moved the following resolution:— “ Having regard to the record of German administration in the colonies formerly part of the German Empire, and to the menace which the possession by Germany of submarine bases in many parts of the world would necessarily 'constitute to the freedom and security of all nations, the Associated and Allied Powers are agreed that in no circumstances should any of the German colonies bo restored to her.” But that is no reason why every effort should not be made to find practical proposals for economic appeasement all round. What is needed is a free movement of goods, which Germany has done more than any other nation to prevent. And the best way to devise a plan is through the League of Nations. Yet, when Geneva went into the matter early this year, Germany and Italy, who were, so to speak, the plain riffs on whose' behalf th« inquiry was insi-lured, remained -.-... v.