THE GERMAN GAME.

Hokitika Guardian, 14 April 1923, Page 4

THE GERMAN GAME.

iRv one who sees through it. London Daily Mail). Most Fritisb people have given up attempting to understand Germany's financial polity. These believe the , German leaders to be in the same state of bewilderment as themselves, to Lave Inst all hope of finding a way out of their financial difficulties, and to !c allowing thing' to drift to ruin or otherwise. Some, however, tlKie are who are convinced that the prc-enl appal cut ch:m- is I easily only part of a scheme mtei cnrellllly 'thought out by German filmneiei', when it became apparent to thmu that Germany could not win the war. fat jl a yon I or two ago ii seemed probable to the average Englishman that Germanv would try to meet her interna ti.inal and business engagements. l'or many years belure the war Englishmen had been toll I, n" (i believed, that Germans held the same ideas of honesty in matters oi business as were held, say, hy business men in Great Britain. Wlw-n the (lermans were finally defeated in Inc Ip.hi we most of us believed that every Genuau of every class would strain eve'rv move to save the honour of the Fatherland.

(In i Lc strength nf ibis belief, and when i lie mark had dropped to some luimlreds to the Cl. Englishmen and | ethers bought marks in a gamble. | ! Innumerable city clerks bought CL’j j or 626 worth, town and country pro 1'e,..i,,nal men inve-ted UIOO or m ariisans ami labouring men in their thoti-ands ri'ki'il a lew pounds, and all ever this country, and no doubt abroad, hanks were overwhelmed with applications for marks I rum every I ela-s and sex. Marks proved always available, and; such demands were met without lu-"| or publicity, and quite a number of| Engli'hmen believe that Germany has: ] -old marks in England and elsewhere i ! to the value of at least £666.600,600. j i ' These paper marks had cost Die ; ■ - Germans nothing to produce, but theo-j - ; sale resulted in procuring for them . ; enormous sums ol money (iliat is. ere—; ■j dit ill England, tlie I idled Ktaies.j > j and various other part' of the world, j | It seems reax .liable In suppose that j j this money (carefully eamoutlageilj i< ' ! now at the di'pio'cl of the German • i Government. througii 0" agents f Germany tool: the utmost advantage ' of wha I eve i < rod'll remained to her - I at',,'l' the war. ami would be selling e | | ei j m ■; marks now could she find a i ! market : Imi at pro'Oiil nrices £ • in util pnreli tse nearly halt a minion . ; mark', uhi' h before the war would e i have I worth £25,0.10. and I here el are pr.-o Deadly no buyers. '- j Roughly 'peaking. Germany pro- ■' j duces Milfieieiil feeds! uti' - to feed bier - ; p.qtuia; ion. There i- no limit, to the II j amount oi paper to' le y . quite 'U6n ! abt ■ tor it'e in f.erinany. wiiich can - 1 tie jeodue, I. The wages oi the win ki j j;,:' el; ,e- i lie si la l ie' i 1 1 be luircau- - i , reev. ae,l I • C preJes* iona l ; lid ' j . ! • n d , bi'-e-, are all paid in paper li I 111 '11.,, which e. e| lietbillg to produce I- j Wi ; : e •;i yet buy the loud ami t | , . I e.pdi ■■ I ill I. .■(■]) I 111- (.re II ii, qile ikieile. ’ i , ; meni m (!ei'ma uy h aeiojee., :uid works'uip-. are working full time. pi el'ae ! during the past I "five : no nibs l eiue. 'eeoial only to thal oi i ! Great Rniain. and greater than that , j ~i I he I'nitcd Stale-, or France. ■j It.'!;. . or Japan. ■ | I -.: u ■ during the war : • lie is repaying I j or Ice. I'epaiil these with paper mark', j Luo : , , 111. and holile,., 01. German ; Go; ei nt.o in and industrial 'ceuritie ■j i Ijeir di'doem!' in paper iiko'K-. j Vf a on: actnrei's ami prodm-ers are ..'on . all 1C ! ap it .it!-: s. -I mg ! ■ mu'um: 1,, pr.nliice. It I' a credit j :,y stem run mad: Imi it works—so! I iai ' ! . j Certain ;aw material' eanmU he | j proibu >'d in Germany, ami must be; j obtained tri m abroad. T hey can only j i I be bought again-! 'telling or dollars, j | Eneli-h . speculators and oilers. by ; ! buy in ■. paper mark,, have provided ; | Germany v ith !g: > u ftn • - tiii- | ten.ib-. nianiifai-Hires liiem inti) v.luit-j | "i i : e: , ’ j,, ihe liriti'h people and util- j j ■■! - ii ll L -ierlilig or dollar'. | The German eo-t of manufaeturitig : I ah! in iii'.i mark,, and p; act ic ;dly the wh'-l.' oi tlie sterling momy received by the Germans for gc I- so mannfaetuveil is proiii, and the original £i;! : ll,060.!';(>() i> thus kepi fnWwi. Xo good-: manufactured in Brilain | or el- '", hoie can compete in price with i he German goods, tor British and other overhead and manufacturing charge, must be paid in real money. S'o long as Germany can export, goods to other countries—and she is likely to he able to do so. for she can nn-'.lor-eil most competitors in all inreign j markets she "ill he able to keen up! her credit easily and buy all tlie raw j material she requires, especially with : ihe aid of the £600,600,000, and even- j timlly dominate the markets oi the world. Should this Gorman policy prove workable, even though for only file years, the financial position of Great j Britain would necessarily be seriously : affected. The trade, say. in metal bar-, steel joists, steel and copper plates, would ' have been captured hy Germany. Her .-hips would carry t-argi Os at rates . impossible to British and other lin- j t ions ; her special industries—dyes, ! toy-, watches, clocks, musical instrui meats, cutlery, and the like—would llmirish as never before, outside opposition being impossible. Did this policy continue in force for fifty years, Germany would liu-li Rri- j tain entirely off the trade map. It : would not then he a question ol one | million unemployed in these island.-: | nine men out of every ten of our prosent population would he unemployed . or dead. England would be utterly out ot it ; as a manufacturing country: famine! survivors being forced into agrieui- ; ture, eventually annexed to Germany, ; and consequent death would make ol j England a vast burial ground, the ; and their country serving the Ger- j mans as a stepping-stone to the m- j va-iou ot North and South America. The tle>!i Ci many a good British j citizen Is at the p:v-cnt moment be- j ing made to creep by idea- such as j have been sketched above. I'or bis : benefit (after all. he pays Die taxes) ' it appears to be up to our statesmen, ; and above all to our Pre-s, to re- j assure him. He will require ineonttoveriible fact'-., in ike plainest of Englisu, to get him back into a eonitortable state of mi : !, lie wants profit that houe-iy pays in the long run. that hi- method of paying what he owes and living within bis income is the light method, ami that the knavi-h tricks of his enemies cannot -ucoeed. That lie has been properly "done" in the matter of buying paper marks he is willing to forget—it i- not by any means the first time he has baetc- j ed the wrong horse—but he would like to feel that the matter ends j there, and that the millions he lias j presented to the Oei'nuuix will not I

necessarily result in the smashing up of his country and himself. The only fair and honest solution of this problem is for the German Government to tax its wealth as ours is taxed and to balance it- Budget. Tint the German Government appears to be ; run I>y its rich industrialists, wtio, ! not unnaturally, will do anything they can lo avoid taxation. The .Allied Governments presumably have tried to reason with them without success. French patience is exhausted, and they are rightly now Irving the only peaceful way left, by occupying peacefully the di-iriei which is the key to the dour of German industry, and which will enable them in tax the profits of those industries without in any wav harming the German workman and hi- livoli1i n ! provided that he is content to receive the rewards of hi. labour from the French instead of from those Gorman millionaire industrialists who are reailv causing all the trouble!