THE H.B. TRIBUNE. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 1922. GERMANY AND GENOA.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XII, Issue 99, 5 April 1922, Page 4

THE H.B. TRIBUNE. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 1922. GERMANY AND GENOA.

The cable told us a day or two back that the German Reichstag had, by a vote of 348 to 81, declared its confidence 1 in the Chancellor, Dr. Wirth, this being described as the most emphatic vote since the establishment of the Republic, and as an endorsement of the attitude adopted by the Government on the question of reparations. The latest mail reports that we have of proceedings in the Reichstag have relation to a similar vote taken about the middle of February, when Dr. Wirth also secured an expression of confidence, but by a very much narrower majority, the tally then being 220 to 185. The immediate issue upon

which this division was sought was that of the measures taken by the Government in dealing with the industrial strike which had just been averted. But, at the same time, it was claimed to be fully capable ot interpretation as a general declaration of approval of the Government’s policy, and more particularly with regard to its foreign relations, which for the time being arc, of course, dominated by a consideration of the Allied claims. A comparison of the voting figures will show how greatly the Chancellor and his new Foreign Minister have ostensibly advanced themselves in the estimation of the members of the German Parliament. It will be ■ remembered that some ten days ago we had another message from Berlin which gave us a graphic picture of the indignant demonstration which followed the announcement of the Allied Reparation Commission’s latest requirement that German taxation should be materially increased so as to help in meeting the country’s modified treaty engagements. We were told at the time that this uproar need not be taken seriously, that it was largely “stage thunder, which would have rqmbled just as loudly if the Commission had proposed the cancellation of half Germany’s debts.’’ On the other hand, the German press declared that the narrowness of the Government’s majority in previous confidence votes was only significant evidence of its instability, and suggested how readily it might be overthrown, with a great chance of its being replaced by a revolutionary regime having strong Bolshevik leanings. This, of course, is an old threat that, while it had some real force in the early days after the Kaiser’s abdication, has but little chance of materialising now. However, Germany, and with some justification from past experience, has got a great belief in the efficacy of bogeys on Allied resolutions, and so we have that of the danger of Bolshevist tendencies revived from time to time as occasion seems to demand. The present heavy vote in favour of a Government insistently protesting its inabilty to pay is but another act in the drama, designed to show that, upon whatever questions the various political groups in Germany may be deeply divided, they are entirely at one in their determination to resist enforcement of the reparation demands. This, of course, is all in preparation for the forthcoming Economic Conference at Genoa, where France has insisted that the reparations question will not be reopened, but where, at the same time, it is very certain to exercise a decided indirect influence on the discussion of 'other subjects.

As has so often been said, the question is not so much Germany's eventual capacity to pay as the discovery of a form of payment which will not incommode the creditors more than the debtor. For instance, the per capita taxation in Germany has ever since the war ended been vastly lower than in either Britain or France, while the per 'capita production has been much higher than that of Britain at any rate. Despite this, at the time mentioned, about the middle of February, a return was tabled in the House of Commons which showed that the German Government had very substantially reduced the amount of collectable taxation by raising the amount of the minimum income at which taxation began and by lengthening the steps at which the graduated rates applied, as well as by increasing family and household allowances of one kind and another. At the same time the Government has, from the reduced taxation thus collected, continued to pay out what amount to virtual subsidies to German industry, not, as in Great Britain, doles to the unemployed. Thus, there is a substantial bread subsidy which enables the German workman to do with less wages, while railway rates on the German lines are kept so low that, despite heavy traffic, they result in a big loss, the manufacturers and shipping companies reaping the benefit Then, according to French reports, the Government has done little it anything to check the export of gold, with the result that, while Germany’s commercialists have established gold credits abroad equal to about 350 millions sterling, her Government could barely raise 25 millions to meet the January reparation payment. So, as an American contemporary puts it, while the German Government- poses as being hopelessly poverty-stricken, and declares itself to be the sucked orange out of which no further juice can be squeezed, the German people are fairly prosperous, well fed, and satisfied to work. Then, while Germany is a))le to devote all her energies to profitable production, France is still ppuring very much of hers into the work of restoration necessitated by German devastations. It can thus be readily understood how keenly the French people resent any proposal which goes towards lightening Germany’s load at what looks like the expense of France. The sympathy of most thinking people, will be with them in this, as also in their representation that they must either be allowed to maintain themselves a sufficient military force to make their country safe from German aggression, or else have such definite assurance of outside support as will achieve the same purpose. Germany manifestly intends going !o the Genoa Conference determined to play the old game of bluff with which she has often succeeded. It remains to be seen whether and how the Allied Powers will “call her game.”