The Wanganui Chronicle. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 1949 THE NEW GERMAN PROBLEM

Wanganui Chronicle, 20 April 1949, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 1949 THE NEW GERMAN PROBLEM

THE difficulties whit’d confront the people living in the Soviet zone of Berlin are made more irksome by the comparison which they can and do draw between their own lot and that of the people in the other zones of the city. The war caused the whole of- the Berlin economy to deteriorate to a marked degree but it is probable that the capital city still -remains what it was before the war, fne largest industrial city in Germany. It is too often forgotten that a metropolis becomes a manufacturing city first by reason of the large market within its own boundaries. This advantage permits of large-seale production plants to be established which are able to produce at a lower cost than smaller plants in outside towns of smaller proportions and populations. During the last century it paid to take raw material to coal rather than to haul coal to raw material, hence the development of the Ruhr district and the North of England. The production ot pig iron and ingot steel, is still an activity which it is more economic to engage in on the coal-fields while heavy engineering should be adjacent to it. Pottery requires a plentiful supply of fuel together with the ingredients of the chinaware, but there is more fuel consumed, taken by weight, than efay goes into the pottery so the potteries must develop near to the source of fuel supply in order to permit of a short haul for the fitel from mine to furnace. Shipbuilding jnust be so placed t'nat it is on or adjacent to deep water, near to the coalfields and iron and steel production plants and not far distant from the engineering shops which make the turbines and other engines. The shorter the haul the lower the production costs. The development of the light engineering trades, however, has been greatly favoured by t’ne progress made in the generation and distribution of electricity. Electricity provides the magic wand to industry as well as to domestic life The turning of a switch and the heaviest burdens can be lifted, the highest temperatures can be created and sustained, the heaviest blows can be struck. Conversely, the most delicate automatic movements can be made and the most precise instruments constructed by the aid of electricity, which is the cheapest mode of conducting 01* conveying power from one place to another. This conquest of fine problem of transfering power has had a marked effect upon metropolitan life. Metropolitan areas have developed around a port, such as Belfast, London, Glasgow, New York, San Francisco, Montreal, Quebec, Chicago, hence the raw materials for industry arriving from overseas have a short haul from dockside to factory when the latter is set up in the metropolitan area. The fuel problem is solved by the power wire and the local demand provides the best, market t'nat the industry can ask for. While Berlin is a capital and the largest city in Germany it is not a, seaport. T'ae great port of Hamburg and the important ports of Bremen and Bremmerhaven provide Germany with the entrances to the (Country’s industries. The Ruhr, however, is in the west, and even here the coal and iron industries were handicapped until the development of the Gilchrist-Thomas process of treating low-grade iron ore to get rid of fine phosphorus content. But despite these difficulties in the German economy the capital did, particularly by the application of planning in industry under centralised financial control, gain that population impetus which provided Berlin with that essential start of a large localised market. To cut Berlin out of the German economy is to make war upon the German people and that is precisely what the Soviet Union has been (toing since it took over portion of the German capital. The economy of Germany had been disrupted by intensive bombings. later by the dismantling of industrial plants as part of fne reparations plan, and njore recently by the absence of foreign credits. These are handicaps enough for any people to bear. It is desirable that this economy shall be brought to a healthy state not'only because human considerations demand that the people of shall be given an opportunity to earn a decent living, but in order that these same people shall make their valuable contribution to fine economy of Europe and to the world in general. Inability to move goods to the Western zones has robbed the railways of Germany of a valuable traffic—it is now being either done without or carried by the airlift organised by the Allies—and the deterioration of the railway system, heavy enough in itself, is being accentuated by the shortage of income. The Soviet Union, therefore, is now compelled to decide whether it will permit the area under its control to deteriorate further or whether it will take steps to revive the economy of the capital in order to give itself a better asset in the future. In order to better the position it will be necessary 1o reverse the political programme of the past and the present, and bring about a greater measure of co-operation between the various parts of Germany. If this is done then it is to be expected that German national life will revive. If it is not done then the whole problem becomes an open question. ’What, will be the reactions of the people residing in the Soviet-controlled portions of Germany? Will t'ae seventeen or eighteen millions of people affected suffer in silence or will they seek aid from their compatriots in the American and British and French zones in some form or other to resist the Soviet dictatorship? If the latter course is adopted to what extent will it disrupt the Soviet efforts to move westward? It has been proved in not a few instances that to dominate a country against the will of the people concerned is not worth the effort and that in the long run t'ne dominant Power gets tired of the task and gives it up.