GERMANY TO-DAY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21244, 27 January 1931, Page 10

GERMANY TO-DAY.

THE WOUNDS'OF WAR. EFFORTS OF REHABILITATION. n. , By T. C. L. Unemployment in Germany is considerable, from 3,500,000 to 4,000,000 being out of work, with prospects of a considerable increase. Wages are low, unskilled men receiving from 30s to 40s a week, and skilled from 40s to 555. From this 10 per cent, is deducted for unemployment insurance, another 10 per ,cent. having to be found by employers. House rents, two rooms in a flat in the poor quarters, run from 10s to 14s per week. Foodstuffs are dearer than in England, and much more so than in New Zealand. Potatoes are the staple article of food. The principal crop grown throughout the land is the potato, and there is also a good deal of asparagus Why these vegetables are so dear in the cities is hard to understand. The poor have a hard time on the Continent, and nowhere more so than in Germany. The class hit most by the war was the retired class, consisting of widows and others, dependent upon their investments for a Jiving. Their returns became less and less as the war proceeded, and the price of foodstuffs continued to rise. To keep alive they were compelled to part with their securities, and then their homes, and now they are a charge upon charity. One notices the absence of luxury in Berlin and other cities. Outside the taxis, there are comparatively, few motor cars in Germany. Petrol is as dear as it is in this Dominion, which may be one reason for this, but the general poverty of the country is the principal cause. The German cheap car is the Opel, which sells at about £150; the next most popular is the Adler at £2OO, and then the Mercedes-Benz, a well-made and appointed car, at from £350. One sees very few cars of the luxury class, and those one does see generally have a foreign name plate affixed. Hotel and railway tariffs are high all over Europe, and particularly in Germany. In Berlin a good, not a luxury hotel\costs 30s to 35s a day, and baths an additional 2s. Then there is a 10 per cent, service tax, supposed to go to the servants, but'the latter expect a tip as well, and, if they don’t receive it, exhibit thOir displeasure in a way which the most casual foreign visitor can thoroughly understand. The however, is very good, and everything is scrupulously clean, which cannot be said of the general run of hotels in France and Belgium. THE SIMPLE LIFE. The clothes worn ;are much the same as in other cities of Europe. In Germany, however, the young men and women are affecting as little dress as possible. In the summer the girls go without stockings, contenting themselves with short bands near the top of their shoes. They also dispense with hats, whilst the young men and boys go about in shorts, with coat in hand. 1 Hiking is most popular. Wherever one travelled in the country districts one came across bands of young people on walking tours. Sometimes one found they were whole school classes under a teacher spending their holidays seeing distant parts in this interesting and healthy way Each town now provides its rest house for walking parties, where beds and food may be obtained at nominal prices. The lesson taught by Father Jahn is being relearned by young Germany. The railway system is very efficient. There are three classes provided, the second being superior to anything we have in the Dominion. The Germans use the trains a good deal. Nevertheless, the railways are said to be unremunerative, and rates and fares are to be increased shortly, i It is not from competition, for. except between big centres of population, one sees few heavily loaded motor lorries on the roads. The railways are of wide gauge and run very smoothly. Crossings have gates, which are worked automatically by the trains—a system which would suit New Zealand admirably and save many a fatality. Their cost cannot be heavy, for they are simply constructed, and worked electrically. ■ Wherever one goes in Germany one is impressed with the general efficiency shown, in factory, in shop, in the railways, in the hotels. ’• The Germans have had a terrible set-back and their whilom arrogance has disappeared. We stayed at Wurtzberg, on the River Mainz, once the capital of Bavaria and ruled by an archbishop < who built for himself a castle and laid out grounds that must have kept the people of the State in penury for generations. It is a miniature Versailles. The steep banks of the river are terraced and grow .grapes from which the good red wine of Wurtzberg is made. In the district are large industrial works, where the men commence at 7 a.m. and work with half-an-hour’s respite for luncheon until 4 o’clock. Then the workers do not go to the bowling or cricket green, but into the fields, where their women folk and grand parents have been toiling the whole day long, staying there until darkness comes. They do not complain; it is the life they have been accustomed to, and nowadays the struggle to live—our people would say to exist —is harder than ever. Yet, apparently, they are a happy people. THE USEFUL COW. In southern Germany few horses are to be seen. All the heavy work is done by the domestic cow, which draws the plough, brings in the hay, supplies the milk, and then,, after all this, warms the house in winter time for the byres form part of the dwellings. Nothing is wasted here, not even land for fences, the allotments—all fairly small —being marked by white stones. There are no hedges, no open, drains. Every inch of territory is utilised—even the hill tops, which grow trees. Afforestation is a marked feature of Saxony, Baden, Bavaria, and other southern States. The sandy plains grow excellent trees, and it is an eye-opener to the visitor to see how well tended the forests are. The fire-breaks are wide and clean, and no undergrowth is allowed to remain amongst the trees, nor broken trees or branches. Thinning seems to be regularly practised, and the wood is cut up and tidily stacked to dry. The most popular tree seems to be a pine similar in appearance to our pinus radiala, but to reach maturity they take from 80 to 100 years, as against the radiata’s,3s to 40. Germany is not rich in natural resources. Most of the land has been made arable by the industry and science of her people. She possesses, however, an abundance of .brown coals of low calorific power, those in Rheno-Westphalia, but necessity has turned her engineers to evolve processes for the converting of the coals into fuel of value for manufacturing purposes by the development of low carbonisation. Several systems are now in use, the most successful being known as the Plassmann and the Lurgi. The latter has been adopted bv the Waikato mining" companies, and their works should soon be in operation. The Plassmann system is in operation on the Thames, where large works have been erected to turn out smokeless fuel for London. IDEAS ON THE WAR. The average German has no reluctance to discuss the war with the visiting Briton. On the contrary, he seems to appreciate the opportunity. One thing he does not recognise, and that is that Germany was responsible for the war. That he will never acknowledge, no matter how overwhelming may be the proof adduced. To him the wav was caused by the machinations of France and Russia. Nor will he admit that his country did anything wrong in breaking the Brussels treaty by invading Belgium. To him Germany did the obvious, the only thing. The line of defence between Belfort and Verdun was impregnable, as the hundreds of thousands of men wasted on attempts to reduce Verdun subsequently proved. The German Army had to go by Belgium. That is indelibly impressed on his mind, and the wrongness, the immorality of the action, does not appeal to him in the slightest. He is constitutionally unable to believe himself or his nation to be ever in the wrong, and it is quite futile for anyone to argue the point with him. During the war his attitude was the same: his country could do no wrong. And until August, 1918, he never thought for a moment that the Allies, with all their men and resources, could ever prevail against the Kaiser’s troops. Now he consoles himself with the reflection, that the German armies were never beaten

militarily, but were defeated by hungfer caused by the British naval stranglehold and the treachery of the Socialists within their gates. THE EX-KAISER, There is, however, one German in whom they have no confidence, namely, the exKaiser. They do not speak disrespectfully of him; they prefer to forget him. Ig the crises of the war he failed; in the revolution he abdicated, and jn defeat he fled from his country. His former subjects might have forgiven him all this, but when he remarried in exile in such unseemly haste after' the death of his first spouse he put himself quite beyond the pale. “"He is not now what you English call highly regarded in our country, was the way in which one educated German described him. Will the Hohenzollern ever reign again? That is a question which naturally arises. In the present temper, of the people the Answer may be given, No. They have had more than their fill of this family and the losses and misery they have inflicted. The monarchic system is at a discount, and it is unlikely that it will he reinstated, though the Germans are more conservative and disciplined, than any other nation in Europe outside ,of England] This applies to even the Socialists, who are now governing the country. BITTERNESS TOWARDS FRANCE. The Germans feel very bitter towards the French, who naturally have seized every opportunity to clip their talons. The Germans realise their present powerlessness, but unless the relatione of the two neighbours are put on a different and, better footing the time may come tfhen the Teutons, having rehabilitated themselves, economically and industrially, may again throw down the gauge of, battle. To-day young Germany is • saying: ■' Why should we be kept down by heavy reparation payments for the actions of others? We had no hand in making and carrying on the war, and we are not going to work our souls out for the rest of our lives for the benefit of foreigners.” It is this, feeling that was exploited by Hitler ’ during the recent elections. “ Down with the public and all _ its works! ” was his gospe 1 , and his Fascists, styled the National Socialists, responded to an extent that has ever since caused considerable uneasiness in the chancelthe Allies. The Hitler programme included the non-payment of reparations, the repudiation of the peace treaties, and the overthrow of, the republic in favour of a dictatorship. Fascism may take a more moderate turn, but its growth will undoubtedly lead to further anxiety and perhaps trouble. A thought which is uppermost in the visitor’s mind is how such a kindly and courteous people could have violated international agreements, . ravaged whole countrysides, and committed crime after crime against humanity. These peopje who love their homes and families, their music and literature, in the past have suffered themselves at the invaders and despoilers’ hands. The visitor is forced to the conclusion that either they are consummate dissemblers or were hypnotised by their war lords. Just now, however, they are a disillusioned and chastened people who entertain a wholesome respect for the British and go out of their way to show their friendly feelings to the British visitor.