"MADE IN GERMANY"

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2420, 27 March 1915, Page 2

"MADE IN GERMANY"

SUBTLE TEMPTATIONS.

That from the smallest of happenings sometimes spring the most far-reaching results is a trite enough observation to make, but it was never-more exemplified than at the big meeting of women which was held in London shortly after the outbreak of war to'consider what was to bo done' to prevent the wideSpread unemployment that . would inevitably result, from _ its "operations.' Wonien of all classes were present, for it was felt that vital issues were being dealt-.with, and it was when the question was brought forward of what could be done to • originate- industries for women that one woman cried out': "Why, I can make'rag dolls!" Simple enough the. remark sounded, but it'was practically the beginning or the toy industry in England as it now stands, and which up till then had lain so largely in the bands of German makers. Patriotism which in times of peace lies dormant and quiescent when it is a question of getting things more cheaply from other countries than from our own, took aai active form, and the toy industry is now meeting with great encouragement in' Britain. . . That, however'; "is only' one ' form of the practical patriotism that is animating the energies of people in the parent country, and one has only to read of the immense amount of work that is , being done by the- Women's Emergency Corps, the industries they are fostering, aiid the many difficult problems arising from the war that they are grappling with, to gather some idea of the work whion is being done there. Another form of warfare in which women in Britain are taking an active part is that of shunning all goods that have been "made in Germany,'? and it is one that in future days, when the war is over, will again confront them in perhaps a more insidious form. German manufacturers had captured much trade in toys, in silverware, in cotton, woollen and silk fabrics, perfumes, and jewellery, real and. imitation. Silk stockings make a very tender appeal to the hearts, of women, and Germany's exports in that direction, so far as the colonies are-concerned-, have brought-her in immense sums yearly. An annoying part about it all lies in the fact that they have been made from silk that certainly was never near a silkworm. It will be necessary to carefully inquire where cheap velvets and velveteens, where cotton stockings, and where our gloves creep in from,-as in the making of cheap materials and articles of this kind Germany has excelled. No doubt in the future there will be a system of protection established under which the industries and manufactures of Australasia will be fostered, but time is needed to build up factories'and ■in the meantime goods must-come -from Alseivhere—but not Germany—if women are wide awake and. are determined to - give no encouragement to- an enemy against whom their soils,'their brothers, and others whom' they hold very dear are now fighting. When the war is over desperate attempts will be made to regain lost trade, and recent history has ptoved the' subtlety, the tenacity, and the unscrupulousness of our German enemy. It is quite true that recent legislation has forbidden trade with Germany, but something more than legislation is needed to make it effective. The women .who have sons, brothers, lovers at the war, whose hearts are torn by anxiety, by_ the sufferings and hardships which their men are facing—and by loss—are not likely to forget the price that is being paid, nor to allow it to be nullified, but others who have had no such.stake may perhaps be forgetful—after the war. Whether the forecasts that have beoA made that wlien all is over we will once more be Beeking for the cheapest market inwhich to buy (in other words, Germany), because we are a commercial people and we live in a commercial age, has yet to be proved, and women can do much in the timo to come to show that such is not the case and that their patriotism is an active and deep-rooted force.

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