Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBIRNE, SATURDAY, SEPT, 7, 1918.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14703, 7 September 1918, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBIRNE, SATURDAY, SEPT, 7, 1918.

ECONOMIC COMBINATION. Quite the most important political statement made during the week was that of Lord Robert ; Cecil m which it was stated that the Ihitelite nations are proposing Ito form an economic alliance for the purpose of controlling all Allied re- : sources, thereby making the economic pow§r of the Allies Overwhelming. Much has already been accomplished m this direction, and with great advantage m economy of shipping and quickness of distribution, but Lord Cecil sees that it is possible to extend the system so that the strength of the Allied nations may be enormously increased, not only for the purposes of the war, but for the great days of reorganisation and development that are to folow the proclamation of peace. The value of unified control is being proved every day oil the battleheld, and to a greater or less extent m various aspects of the services for the supply of money, food,' munitions, and -raw materials for the use of the armies and nations, and when the war has been u-uii it will be a great thing . to. haye thesa organisations developed and perfected so that the Allied nations may be able to maintain their strength and vigor, Jigainst the competition of the Central Powers. What the world has found out m the last few years is that it_cau get along very well without Germany and Austria, and it is perhaps the realisation of this fact ,and the prospect of permanent isolation that is causing the greatest concern m the Central Empires to-day. Herr Dernburg, m a recent speech, urging the necessity of an an economic League of Nations after the Avar m which Germany would be included, declared that the Allied Powers, and particularly Britain and America would "be obliged to concede food supplies and raw material, world markets,, and dumping grounds to Germany, beicajise they cannot do. without German chemical products, and because they will want to use 'm, place of their sunken tonnage the shipping that Germany has been hording and accumulating iii her home ports since the war began. Mr. H. G. Wells, m a series of articles 'm the London Daily Chronicle bliowb- how very fallacious is this view. There is nothing indispensable m German technical science. It hs' a baseless delusion that the mentality of Germany is superior to that of the Italians or the Atlantic nations m this matter. In this, as iv many other things, she made her gains by massed attacks and by geting first into the field. The war has had a .most stimulating effect upon' all of this side of the mental activity of her enemies, and it is safe to say that today, if by some miraculous intervention Germany were suddenly wiped out of existence, the technical science of the world would not be sensibly pporer. Mr. Wells has been lately looking into this matter, and the record he gives of British recovery m the field of scientific development is surprising. It is not merely a record of increased exertion on the pai*t of individual men, though that side of the story is wonderful enough; it is a ''record of increasing, co-operation, of the formation of great industrial organr isations where formerly there was merely a mob of competing firms, of the systematic, undertaking of investigations, of the • developnjent of, , a ..disciplined systematic Britain out of the lax and careless Britain that faced organised Germany before the war. In almost every branch of scientific and technical work m which Germany j had afi-Y advantage before the. war-tnei'e has been an amazing recoveryY' )lt 'would »be too long,. to; gjve a list of the fundamental things accomplished, but m ''such, items .as dyes, /chemicals, opitical .glasses and* fo,od products the Allies- are now entirely independent of Germany. Germany had a ; monopoly of optical glass,, mainly through her high technical organisation ,- but also through her cpntrol of .pure, potash. - British energy 1 first produced the needed high quality potash, and how her optical :. glass ; .-excels iany German product, - and ujidess Germany lias also made great . strides during the ..war she will, find her old methods of manufacture altogether out of date when at, lost she ,is able to itake'np competition again. Both pure and ordinary potash have meant great things to Germany iiV the past ; t^he former m relation to such products as optical' glass and the latter because . of ; the use of potash salts m, -artificial fertilisers and so .forth. The, only, deposits of potash, salts known j and worked m the world were either ..in Germany or Alsacel ' Now we kUQW^ot ipota«h deposits ifi Spain, Abyssinia, ;.! Nebraska,. YWyoiping, SaskatcKewrau, Portugal, and . Brazil. -We have new methods- of 'obtaining 'p^taehrfrom 'lei: spar, the old kelp, burning^ methods havebeen revived ' Under exceptionally;; favor-' .able conditions m Florida, >.aviS .ihe; . Americaais .. recover potash profitably. . from cement .kilns), and; blast .furnaces., After the. war, neither Britain- nor America, not-, any of !, the .Allies, will be m need of German dyes' at all. In the matter of potash, itis^doulitful wliethe,!," they will notbe, able to {get it .as cheaply from non-Gernian A as.. i rom '„ Germain, pources, and the difference m cost ; will" be, at" any rate, quite a' minor consideration at the settlement. "And^as I run-, my hand down the list,"- writes Mr.' Wells, "I read out 'item after item{in this fashion.: .'Synthetic:' tannin. /.'■ . *. Dyeing- of furs, a' complete- success,; : formerly, dent. -'to Germany tojbe.i.dyed. and finished.' 'No maker of- prussic acid for deliming furs existed m Great \BriUtin before 1914 ; now we have .an ample i supply. . . .' 'Thorium (for ga's •mantles) formerly a -German- monopoly, is' no\v completely m oui* hands. . .' 'We. controLthe' whole supply of monazite Band, from <which not" only thorium, but mezo-thorium (used, to make the luminous compound for. watch dials) . and ''cerium compounds _(for arch' light carbons,^ etc.) are V. derived- .....-..' -'Zinc smelting, has developed to sjreait proportions m America, and. Ave", produce> all and more ' than Are need of electrolytic zinc. We control all, 'the -zinc ore sup-' ply. . . .' 'Formerly, duralumin,:iii- ! comparably the best • .aluminium . .alloywas : entirely a German produ.ct.. Superior alloys are ' now produced m Great..Sritain, > France, and* the United; Sjbates. . . . .' 'Pure, nickel . . /porcelain and glass: for • labortaory usej. V.. . . hot-S,ir rhofcorßi-Y. . . lugh■class ithermometers. . . .'" The full list overflows the space available here. •All this mean^that'Avheiutheday.pf ,s(*t-, j tlement comes the Germans will find that J I their fancied monopolies of . various | chemical products with Avhich they hope, to bargain against the real monopoly of the Allies m tropical and other staple materials — m palm oil, cotton and. rub-, ber, for example — is not worth offering. That cheque •on the bank of humanity

_mmwmmmmmmmmm-mmmWmmmmmm^mmmmm^mm--WmWm-m will be returned '•account closed." The rate materials of the world will go henceforth to Germany only when the sword of Zabem is abandoned mid forgotten. Mr. Well* shows further that the idea that German shipping will be indispensable to tho carrying on of the world's commerce is absurd. The? Allies are building ships faster than the. Germans can sink them and will have adequate lleets, to carry on business as usual when the war is over. Moreover, Ge'iitiaiJy will find very little use for the shipping that is now hiding and skulking m her harbors^ for these is. a vty.*y serious world movement to boycott German shipping foY ft long period after the war as a reprisal for the sub^ marine atrocities. As showing that this movement is supported by precedent he mentions tbat from 1871 up to the very outbreak of the present war no German' sailor, it is Wall known, dared to join the crew of a Frfeheh ship,, and French ports were extremely uncomfortable places .for. Germans. That e'llduring detestation however, was a pale thing to the bitter hostility that- now awaits the German seaman and skipper and passenger upon the high seas and m the ports of all this planet to-day. .This movement against German seamen and ships is not confined to Allied countries, the seamen of Norway, Sweden and Denmark are joining m, the dockers of South America; and its full significance is probably only understood as yet m sea-gding circles. German- goods as well as ships and men will be boycotted., by sailors and wharf , laborers all the world over and before coal ! starts f or <any coaling station m the world care will be taken to see that it is not going to coal a German ship. Here is something like a natural force at work against Imperialistic Germany, a natural force she has awkened by her own acts. Lohg after the war ends Hamburg may still enjoy the quiet of a blockaded city if she will not disavow the dream of a German militant Imperialism, ; scheming against the world,. And \yhile the native aiid natural resentment of-aU the seaports of the world thus threatens Germany, other men, -with, less passion but with, no leas determination, are planning schemes for protection against her that would have been incredible four years ago. Thinkers like, Herr Dernburg predict the Great Britain of 1920 as though she was going to be an unchanged continuation of, the Great . Britain of 1913, as individualistic, planless, disorganised, and chaotic. They think of the Allies as the same divided States, with. conflicting fiscal policies and economic rivalries. Much of Germany's strength m the war has lain m her collectivism, and «. it is manifest the German mind does not begin to realise what vast strides towards collectivism and international unity have been made by her antagonists under the .pressure of the Avar. Such a Bill as the Imports and Exports Bill, for example, now before the -House : of Commons, which proposes to continue the present war pOAver of the* State to regulate imports and exports upon strategic lines for a period of five years after, the war, would have been impossible m 1913. It is only one of a great number of symptoms that point to the rapid spread of 'ideas of concerted and organised economic action against Germany. These are but the first small crystals of a sreat possibility of organised opposition. If Germany continues to organise against the. world, most ; .certainly the whole world will organise against »Germany. C&iisider, for example, the line -recently taken ;by the Washington Chamber of Commerce. This body, representing the whole ', business community of America, has, by a vote of 1204 to 151 passed a; resolution m favor of an economic Combination against' GermWiy. Such o resolution does not foreshadow the Avorld Avide organisation that is bound to arise if Germany persists m her fantastic dream of Avorld dominion. She is compelling mankind to create an economic prison about her because she will give v mankind no chance unless this is done. The' French and Italians are temperanjcntally individualistic, the AngloSaxons are "free traders" by disposition. It. is with the utmost reluctance that tlicy are 'beincr welded •Hntb "an" iron* league against Germany. But they "are being so welded now. Germany will havei it so. " . ; .