The Wanganui Chronicle "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." TUESDAY, AUG. 21et, 1917. "ENGLAND'S FINANCIAL SUPREMACY."

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LX, Issue 17067, 21 August 1917, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." TUESDAY, AUG. 21et, 1917. "ENGLAND'S FINANCIAL SUPREMACY."

T,nder tlr's title there has been published m book form the translation of a series of articles which appeared some time ago in the "Frankfurt Zeitung." The work is described by the reviewers as being interesting in it-sett and valuable as showing the German point of v'ew. The author of these articles claims that they represent an impartial study of the British money market; of the causes that led to its supremacy before the Avar; the probable effect upon it of the struggle in which we are now engaged; and of the methods, by which the Germans hope in the Future id diminish or destroy the supremacy of the City of London. The claim to impartiality cannot bo entirely sustained. There is the natural prejudice against an enemy which often makes the wish father to the thought; there are also some very grave inaccuracies in detail, especially in regard to events that have happened since the war commenced. These may he due to lack of information, but not infrequently vitiate a whole argument. For instance, a sequence of damaging conclusions is based on the assertion that Brtiain has failed to maintain the export <A gold. In point of fact, as the translators have no difficulty in showing,, her exports of gold 10 th c United States and other countries have been continuous and enormous.' But, in spite of such errors (with which the translators deal most faithfully), the reviewers are satisfied that the author has striven to b« impartial according to his light, and that there is much in his analysis from which we can learn. Jt is curious to learn that he has exactly the same grievance -'about finance as we hav<s about trade. British financial supremacy, he declares, is largely founded on German brains, assiduity and ente;liprise; it has been established because lor German indifference. The German i financier received little encouragement jat home, so he went abroad, and, ail unwittingly, swelled the resources of his future enemies. Many of the names prominent in finance in Europe and ■.America are German in origin. In-

deed, the author" describes "German beln" as one of the most important elements in British pre-eminence. Others are such factors as cheap money, a free gold market, steady .exchanges, a worlduide business connection, and an unlimited market for capital. The author holds that even before the war these factors were of diminishing weight-; with th c war they have almost disappeared, and will never return. H.e tries to prove his contention by an analysis of Britain's financial transactions since the war, which he compares unfavourably with those of Germany. As the English critics or the book have been quick to point out, the weakness of his argument is that he forgets that in. an isolated country, forced to be self-dependent and self-contained, you can give to money any nominal value that you choose. This value has not uecessarily any relation to values outside. It is arbitrary} it reduces currency to its original function of a short cut in barter, whereas the modern conception of " money" implies both credit, communications and cosmopolitan values. For practical purposes the Germans might as well use cowrie' shells as marks for their symbols of exchange ; Britain, on the other hand, has still kept her currency in direct relation to world values. A sovereign is still a sovereign everywhere; a mark has not its face valae anywhere except in Germany and her financial satellites. For all this, the German author has, apparently, much to teach ue. In a series of graphs he indicates the extent to which Germany has overtaken Britain in certain forms of industry. In the production of coal and steel, for instance, and the consumption of copper, all of which are vital symptoms of the activity uf manufacturing nations, the l-nes converge—and in two cases cross in favour of Germany. "This is the penalty of faulty training," remarks the German author; is the recognition of which is expressed in the demands foi an .English Charlotfcenburg— the home of advanced and applied scientific education," By the word "training" he means snot only technical equipment; it* connotes t>> him qualities of diligence in which British industry, m its captains and its tank and file, was lacking. His conviction that Britain's financial supremacy depends solely on tradition and accident, Loth of which have been destroyed by the war, becomes stronger as be proceeds. Whan the prestige of the City of London has, been wrecked, Berlin will inherit its mantle, and will have a tremendous field to exploit. The author's complacent prophecies accord but ill with the views of those who vainly imagine that Garmany is ready to offer the olive branch of peace. The chapter en "Our New Friends" is quite frank about the intentions of German capital. Central Europe to the Bosphorus. and Asia from the Bosphorus to Mesopotamia, are to be exploited to the limit of their possibilities in the interests of the Berlin Bourse. "Bulgaria "has made up ite mind tb.a^ prosperity is only possible through closs economic union with ourselves," while "Turkey cherishes even greater hopes of th© results of union | with ourselves and our friends. East and West can no longer be kept apart.'' All this, no doubt, would be very satisfying ta the German mind, if . But the "if" is a large one, and involves the absolute necessity of winning the war—an »hievement which Germany herself must realise to be hopeless of attainment.