THE REAL CAUSE OF THE WAR.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11671, 11 April 1916, Page 4

THE REAL CAUSE OF THE WAR.

It has been left for a" Swiss professor, M. Maurice Millioud, professor of sociology in tho University of Lausauno, to indicate more clearly than any ot tho professional publicists and diplomatists who have sought to explain tho origins of the war, what the deep-seat-ed reasons were that impelled tho German Government to risk tho future ofGermany by rushing into a war that could easily havo been avoided > right up to the very last moment, M. Millioud's book is now published in an English version, to which is prefixed an introductory chapter by Sir Frederick Pollock, tho eminent jurist, who declares that M. Milliond's points are no less original than important. "He considers in tho main three questions," writes Sir Frederick Pollock. "We havo to account for the national sentiment which supports the German Government in its, huge adventure. For if we ever thought the war was not generally approved in Germany we cannot think so now. Then we must consider tho aims and policy of German expansion in the years before tho war. Last comes the question which M. Millioud thinks the hardest for an impartial observer, what made the German ruling classes decide that their ends could not be attained without war. jA great military establishment > costs i much, but actual" war costs far more. No Power was willing to. fight Germany without tho gravest cause, and in spite of some diplomatic reverses, by no means of tho first magnitude, Germauy held the primacy among Continental nations ..both ia public affairs and in trade." To the examination of the situation! thus analysed, by the distinguished jurist, the Swiss professor applies him-j self with acute and penetrating ratiocination, applied to a series of facts in | the, economic life of Germany that aroj actually startling. His book is entitled "The Puling Caste and Frenzied Trade in Germany." THE RULING CLASS. M. Millioud carefully avoids cumbering his book with historical detail, but he shows quite conclusively that the ruling class'in Germany is a composite body consisting of f,wo distinct elements, namely, in tho first place, tho feudal nobility, comprised of great landowners, whose interests are purely agrarian; aud in the second place the manufacturers and merchants, ' who have acquired influence through wealth accumulated by trade. The _ author shows that Bismarck through his genius was able to reconcile these two elements which were at first violently opposed to, each other. Ho fused them iitxo a single political element, and used that element to restrain tho Catholic Centre party and to hold down the Socialists. A graphic picture is given in these pages of the terrible dangers that arose when by a violent change that was carried out within A. very brief period Germany ceased to be essentially an agricultural nation, and became essentially an industrial nation. The German banks, according to this authority, must be held chiefly responsible for the war. They manipulated' credit in such- a way that it appeared to be wealth. That wealth was then invested in producing goods in vast quantities that completely outstripped tho homo markets' capacity of absorption New markets-had to be found, by force or fraud, to take the goods that millions of German operatives, who were drawn in the first instance from the land, were engaged in manufacturing. Such a huge proportion of Germany's capital, actual and imaginary, was'locked up in- machinery factories and warehouses that it became necessary for her to realise on it in a given time, or else be prepared to see the whole structure collapse, to the rum of her industrial population. Writes M. Millioud:— . "Industry and trade cannot exist or themselves, and these factories, built on all sides, these vast trading concerns, this incessant perfectioning and machinery, the creation ot a 'mercantile marine, the winning of forciirn markets, the giving of s long credits, necessitate the expenditure ot vast sums, require huge capital. Where does the money come from? The industrial and commercial system in Germany is erected upon a- wonderful system/ of finance. The Tower of Babel ■was also a remarkable erection. HUGE LOAN CAPITAL. In reading this brilliant analysis of the economic life of Germany, the idea is strongly suggested that Germany's cleverness' has been Germany's ruin. Her people havo been " too clever by half," and. they have organised produc-

"FRENZIED FINANCE" IN GERMANY.

VIEWS OF A SWISS PROFESSOR.

I tion to such a vast extent that the existing markets wora incapable of ab- ' sorbing her products sufficiently rapidly Ito give a return for the capital invested. The author writes:— ' In Germany manufacture, mining, markets and trade hav© all grown up suddenly, as if the outcome of sonic creative impulse of the mind—some philosophical systein of thought instead of as they were nee'dod to fill our requirements. All thnt calls for huge loan capital with which to buy raw material to build up foreign markets, to acquire mines and collieries, to buy up competing businesses and set up new factories, the policy of weltpolitik dates from twenty-five years ago, and in that period out- must reckon tho moucy invested abroad by hundreds of millions. The annual income from this capital ia estimated at £40,000,000 per annum—and it is admitted that it is, this income, together with that accruing from her ocean freights, which mak6s up for Germany's excess of imports over exports. ' The German banks, says M. Millioud, i followed their funds into the businesses in which they were invested, and as more and < more capital was required I they substituted paper for accumulated [ funds. "It was high, time," writes the author, " for this commercial world conquest, like the conquests of the Roman Empire, could not bo checked without serious dangers. The larger the frontier, the more urgent became the need to protect the extended front and give support to the advance posts,!" To the reflective mind it would seem, in fact, that Germany's economic situation before the .war was very similar to her military situation now. She had made large economic conquests—but holding on to them was a tremendously costly business. In. fact, to use Bismarck's expressive metaphor—a metaphor which represents the position with startling accuracy—she had "bitten off more than she could chew." That is what is the matter with Germany .it the present time. M. Millioud describes a number of typical German business transations in detail, having, as he says, obtained the information from a, sure source. "Owing to the fact that the banks work together," wo read, " and to their being linked up with the. industrial and trading companies, they lipid the paper of the latter in common. Their mutual understandings are not publicly known. Each guarantees tho other's paper, and all is well so long as the confidence of the public is not shaken, and it is essential that this confidence should be kept up by prestige; prestige of the State and of the army, "the prestige which cornea of dividends, the prestige of activity and increasing output." It seems that it is a. bad thing to be a consumer im Germany. The producers are banded together in huge organisations to fleece the miserable consumer, who is never allowed to know what is going on. THE CAUSE. However, there are some * consolations. To judge from these pages, it is far easier to get credit from a German bank than from any other financial institution in the world. The author affirms that he saw the statement of accounts of a country branch of one of the largest banks in Germany. " The official return of all its loans," he writes, "amounted over a period of one year to 8,305,000 marks, of which 6,693,000 marks were secured, 1,612,000 unsecured; or, in other words, there was no .security to show for 25 per cent of the loans made." _ It was the consciousness of an impending economic earthquake about to result as a consequence of too much papor money prestige and ingenious juggling with credit that impelled Germany to embark on the war. in tho opinion of this clearsighted Swiss professor.

THE GERMS OF CEREBROSPINAL MENINGITIS «, Are stated by the Director of the Bacteriological Laboratory of the University of Melbourne to be quickly destroytd by Eucalyptus. SANDER'S EUCALYPTUS EXTRACT was proved at the Supreme Court of_ Victoria to possesses far greater antiseptic power than the common eucalyptus oils and so-called "extracts." Therefore, if you are not particular about your health you use any sort of Eucalyptus; if. you are, you must use SANDER'S EXTRACT. 3 drops on sugar. It protects not only from meningitis, but from, all other infectious diseases—scarlet fever, measles, influenza, typhoid, diphtheria, smallpox, etc. SANDER'S EXTRACT is the strongest and safest antiseptic; its curative qualities have been demonstrated to be genuine and lasting—it not only disinfects, but stimulates and gives new vigour to diseased parts. Ulcers, boils, poisoned wounds, inflamed skin are ouickly healed bv SANDER'S EXTRACT. 1