GERMAN LABOUR CAMPS

Taranaki Daily News, 13 November 1934, Page 2

GERMAN LABOUR CAMPS

CURE FOR UNEMPLOYMENT HUGE SCHEMES UNDERTAKEN. NATION’S YOUTH OCCUPIED. (By Maire M. Arthur.) Germany claims that she has found an effectual means of overcoming the moral and social uifficulties of the youthful unemployed by the establishment of labour camps. The chief problems of labour service lie in the educational, the moral and above all the social Sphere. The German morale was destroyed by post-war events. The occupation of the Rhur, Communism and currency inflation —all these contributed to its decadence. The labour camps are helping to a recovery of that morale; they keep the young men healthy and they give them fresh courage to face the future, it is claimed. One cannot overlook the semimilitaristic attitude of these camps, but Germany has always been a militaryminded nation, and looking at this attitude in the broad historical sense it seems but natural.. In’ the hour of need all classes have joined shoulder to shoulder in order to save the nation. The tasks in the camps are common to all, students work side by side with craftsmen and workmen, peasants with town dwellers. Each camp is governed by a leader who is especially trained in welfare services, and the young men are brought up to habits of cleanliness, simplicity and industry. They work nine and a-half hours a day inclusive of sports and exercises. In return they receive free food, lodging and clothes as well as a small payment from the' Reich Exchequer. WORK FOR MANY YEARS. In June there were 250,000 persons in these camps. It is, however, reported that there is sufficient work for 500,000 for the next 20 years. The recent conscription of youth by Ministerial decree will go to swell the numbers in the camps, and leave their places open to unemployed fathers of families. This voluntary labour, it is claimed, has proved a blessing to the nation from an economic as well as from a moral standpoint. I would stress the economic aspect because they have endeavoured to organise voluntary labour in such a way as to avoid competition with private enterprise. Their work consists of undertakings which benefit the community, such as reclamation of waste-land, drainage of water-logged areas, irrigation and road building. The welfare of the community really demands this work, but private enterprise cannot carry out these huge Schemes. Germany possesses 29,000,000 hectares (one hectare equals approximately 2i acres) of farm lands. Of these 8,500,000 hectares lies under water in wet weather. This means that onethird of the farm lands is too wet to yield the maximum output. No such large-scale improvements have taken place in Germany since the reign of Frederick I. This monarch once said that “The man who makes two blades of grass grow where one grew before does more for his country than a general who wins a pitched battle.” 200,000 MORE FARMS. The cultivation and draining of waste land would allow 200,000 more farms to be developed, so the Germans claim, and employ 1,500,000 persons. « The drilling and discipline in the labour camps is strict. However lamentable the fostering of the militaristic spirit, there is one saving grace, and that is that the common effort engenders the brotherly spirit and binds men together in a common ideal. Most Germans claim that the term “militaristic” in relation to these camps is wrong because the spirit inculcated there is religious, emotional and revivalistic—a spirit conscious of revived morale and an excellent .esprit de corps. To-day it has probably been realised in every country that Government action from interference with private enterprise cannot solve all problems of the present economic system. Private enterprise demands an adequate return, since otherwise there can be no work for the capitalist or the workman, and there will always be a number of tasks which lie beyond private enterprise, such as roaabuilding and reclamation. Once unfruitful lands have been made fruitful in this manner, and once districts have been made more accessible by good roads the foundations will have been laid for private enterprise. The voluntary labour service will thus have contributed to the improvement of German economics and will be a further help to change the structure of the nation. It carries- young persons back to work upon the soil and teaches them that their greatest strength lies in close association with the soil. So here we have in Germany a peculiar analogy—the nation’s fight against Communism and yet the people practising it in the best sense of the word!