HIS ECONOMIC PENALTY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 200, 13 May 1918, Page 8

HIS ECONOMIC PENALTY

WHAT THE ENEMY FEARS MOST

A TRADE BOYCOTT

Wβ Lave now arrived tit a phase of the war when economic pressure might ba exercised on our enemy with the maximum of hope that it would ba effective (says the London. "Daily Chronicle") It is widely believed that this . pressure would powerfully affeot a nation wlioeo i war spirit and war will >rre gradualiv I •deteriorating uud»r the staggering blows I levelled against H. The recent tighteui ing of the. blockade, adversely aftee-Ni!" the thin trickle of supplies hitherto re" ceived by Germany from friendly nsu. trals, the growing ansjety about a winter campaign in which the Western army will have tho ulvim'a"o of position, and, finally, the eerie UuCiisiness caused by the dread American spectre, aro all of them 'jonsiaiiMtions which should help us in arriving at a conclusion regarding the necessity of immediate economic pressure on the enemy. It should be clearly understood that even yet we have not arrived at definite views on this subject. The Paris Conference, while it did much useful work, did not gp beyond an arrangement providing that tho Allies were to give cai;h other a preference in the distribution of raw material after the war. This was most important, as fur as it wont, and the agonised outcry it caused in Germany at the time was proof enough of the severity of the intended blow; but it did not go far enough.

German Trades. '' But, incomplete as the resolutions of the conference are, we know that It was part of ita design to adopt such subsidiary measures as would ehorten tho ! irnv, and there is certainly nothing conj trary to the spirit of the conference in tiie adoption of a policy which would inflict economic ponalties of a progressive cuaraoter on Germany with the object of compelling her to concludo peace. That the most vivid apprehension on this point exists among German commercial circles we know already;' but the policv of coercion, wit!i its comprehensive threat, is not fully known ■to the masses of the ! people, and its significance and power are I not yot realised by thorn. There is I certainly room here for amplih'caI tion. Where his pocket is concerned : tho German is anything but a fool. From I the very beginning of the war ho' has ! shown a fatnl incapacity to appreciate ! the higher problems of human nature, ! to understand ihose spiritual realms in ' which honour and Hie nobler instincts of the race are conspicuous. All through he lias aoted on false moral conceptions. But when it comes -to the grosser and more material considerations, he is fairly accurate in his deductions. He does not understand the causes of the- moiital and spiritual opprobrium which, fills- our hearts and of which ho is tho object, nor has he th« least regard for it; but -he does understand n determination to coerce him economically. Economic boycott is nn ugly phrase, but it roughly sums un all thoso measures which , would eicludo Germany from tho freedom of overseas markets and ports, wore ehe to rofuso the conditions of poaoe laid down by the .Allies. Even without the co-operation of our friends, the pressure winch the British Empire' alouc could exercise would bo tremendous. In the first place, there are our coaling stations and docks scattered all along the main trndo routes—for exa'mplo, Gibraltar, Malta, Port Said, Colombo, Singapore, and Hongkong on the routes to the lost, as well as nuhierous other places in African, West Indian, and Pacific waters. If a German mercantile floet is to sail the seas, these are indispensable places of oall. We command, moreover, vpst sources of supplies in our African, Indian, Australian, and Canadian dominions, supplies which the rest of the world does not produce in like measure. It is a curious obsession of the commerinl German, the firm belief that the future is his; that to him the portents of fate are favourable; and that, after peace has been concluded, ho will be able to resume his overseas activities. ■ Not for a moment will he entertain the idea of Gormany's future economic condition as dependant on tho attitude which tho Allies will adopt towards his- country. The belief has entered his soul (hat tlio conclusion of the war will see him controlling the resources of an economic empire stretching from the North Sea to the Persian Gulf, and that in controlling this inexhaustible continent it will be an easy matter to impose terms to his profit on the rest of the world. It is absolutely necessary that we prepare to counter Hhe sustained efforts on Germany's part' to re-enter the world's markets, there can be no doubt that these efforts are boing made on an enormous scale, and with all the skill and determination which she has displayed on the military eide of the struggle.

Menace Must Be Removed

There is hardly a country in the world where German agents, either secretly or openly, are not at work today laying the foundations of - an unEcrupulous commercial war against the Allies. The bitter and implacable enemy wo know in the first clearly intends to be our deadly foe in the economic world in years to come. How is the menace, to be met? Germany in this mond-rand it is not so much a mood as a Died national inteutipn—is as great n danger iu peace as in wav. Her commercial and industrial plans elaborated during the past three years are only dimly known to us; but what little we know confirms us in the belief that they will breed trouble and be a menace to peace. We know that Germany hae deliberately worked -for economic domination in every j country to which ilio has had access with a view to ultimate political dominion. Without the safeguards which only united action among the Allies can secure we shall be faced in the immediate future by German economic mensures as ruthless, us cunning, and as scientific as those she is* now waging in wav. Should Germany be permitted to re-enter as a competitor on the worid markets she will do so fully equipped, as sinister as ever, as unscrupulous as , ever, and employing all that capacity and method which made her in the past so redoubtablo an antagonist. We are in duty bound to prepare for the shock of her coming, and to take those measures which will keep her curbed and render hej innocuous. It was a prominent Australian statesman who told us lately that all our sacrifices will havo been made in vain if we leave Germany the means of beginning again her commercial war. Beforo the war, said Mr. Hughes, Germany acted, the purt of a. vampire. It ie for us to break down her tyranny for ever.