AFTER THE WAR.

Waikato Times, Volume 87, Issue 13353, 2 December 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

AFTER THE WAR.

ALLIES' RECUPERATIVE POWER

Some very shrewd and interesting speculations as to what is likely to nap-~ pen alter the war are to be found the last circular to hand from Mr Henry Clews, the well-known Now York banker, lie says:—A great many careful and cxperioiuvd observers look lor a period of excessive prostration among the belligerents after the war. That there will be a jieriod of severo economic exhaustion need not be questioned, but not a few of the prophets of distress have under-estimated the recuperative (lowers of the great nations. Great Britain, for instance, is undergoing a terrific strain in financing not only her own huge navy and army, but also in the financial aid given her Allies. England's resources are not confined to her own island, but must bo treasured also by the enormous resources of her colonies, her huge investments abroad, and the that her immense industries and searfcyne commerce have continued with little interruption. A nation carrying nearly one-half the trade of the world, and controlling such vast resources outside of herself, is not likely to be seriously crippled by contest with Powers of much inferior resources. Great-firitaan 1 will probably come out of the war in better condition than any of the belligerents. She will probably emerge an Empire solidified, awakened, strengthened, and more powerful than ever. Beyond question the war has welded the Empire into a unit "as nothing else could.

Upon Germany, however, the blow is likely to fall with much greater severity. German financial resources do not compare with the British. Her foreign commerce, which ranked second in the world, will be. very seriously crippled. After the war grave fiscal problems will require the skill of her best financiers if she is to escape national trouble. Germany may also be threatened with momentous social and political readjustments, and should the Allies impose heavy burdens her recovery may be relatively slow. Yet it must be remembered the recuperative powers of Germany are great. Her people have a* wonderful genius for organisation, scientific thoroughness, hard ! work and economy, and may be depended upon t<» strain every nerve for* the restoration of national prestige. Her territory has not and may not be devastated by war. Her mills and her railroads are practically intact, and it is doubtful if the Allies, even if successful, will ever make any perceptible inroads upon German soil. Germany's resourcefulness will be put to the greatest test imaginable, all the more surely because of the awful waste of life and skilled labor, but there is not the slightest doubt that she will maae marvellous efforts towards recuperation.

Franc© and Italy may also be expected to recover more rapidly than anticipated in tho present state of public opinion. Only a comparatively small strip of France has been destroyed; a Valuable strip, it is true, but the injuries are of a sort that can be quickly repaired, and twelve months of reoon* stniction in France will work miracles in the present regenerative temper of her people. The same will be true of Italy, provided the northern section of that country in persecved from invasion. Russia has been slightly hurt by the war. She is too vast and haß too large a population to feel the conflict very seriously. Russia is not a rich country, except jn undeveloped, natural resources; but her more wealthy Allies are able to give her abundant financial aid, and after the war development on an enormous scale may be expected in Russia in which the United States will undoubtedly have a 6hare. In all of these countries, therefore, we may safely look for recovery from depression within a reasonable period' after the resumption of peace, because these rations possess great genius, high spirit and vast natural resources, which are only awaiting new development. AH three of these countries will be liteially born again, history proving that Great Britain, Germany, and France have quickly recovered from struggles quite as severe relatively as the present. The same can hardly be said of Austria-Hungary, the Balkan States, or Turkey. These nations do not possess the attributes just referred to, and some of them are decadent. For them a longer period of exhaustion is -probably in store; and tlieir problem*, cially those of the Balkans, will be found far more difficult of adjustment than those of the other great European Powers.