THE FINAL RECKONING

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 223, 8 June 1918, Page 6

THE FINAL RECKONING

It is oho of the obvious facts of the war that precisely, because her crimes have-been .infamous in a degree to which civilised history affords no parallel, Germany, has in a sense assured herself of immunity from punishment. No exnress penalties' can ever, be-. devised" that will adequately requite the abominable atrocities of which the modern.Huns have made men, women, and children the vctim's- on land and sea. If Germany were helpless in their hands the. Allies' wonld. be. no better able to inflict a, penalty proportioned to her crimes than-an ordinary judicial tribunal is able to inflict, such a penalty on an individual criminal who has passed beyond the pale of decent humanity to* indulge in some wild orgy of animal bestiality. In this sense Germany is immune, or all but immune, from punishment, but retribution is nevertheless in store for the German nation and its rulers, and retribution of such, a kind that .its effects will be felt decades after the list shot has been.fired in the world war. To consider only the economic' conditions* which the war has created and those it is bound to leave in its wake is to realise, that even the victory she is striving in vain ■to achieve would hardly save' Germany from disas-trous-collapse as soon as the artificial and temporary conditions of the war period have been terminated. It is not difficult to understand the reckless, desperation of' Germany's present policy if we consider how much-more defeat means to her than the humbling of her pride and the dissipation of dreams of Imperial conquest. It means amongst otheiythings financial disaster, industrial and commercial panlysis, and a long period of dearth entailing as bitter privations as any that have been suffered during the war period. Even in Germany, and amidst the chorus of bombast now heard about conquests and indemnities,'an occasional note of warning is sounded. .As an example in noint we may note a speech delivered not long aso bv Dr. Michaelis, who had a brief and inglorious experience lest year as Imperial Chancellor. With the hypocrisy which seems to come naturally to German bureaucrats, the ex-Chancellor solemnly adjured his countrymen not to sink into materialism, and from this point went on to inform them that the idea that peace would tring food was an illusion. »

We must !c«?k Hip fad in tbe face (lie said) that we shall take war distress wiib us into peace fjnios. Vv'o must inwardly prendre oiirs'.'lves to li°;'.r peace distress without iiiuniiuriiig. The fcai'tily mid t.'io high prices will remain, not only as regards food, but also ill respect of clothes and shoes. Our great burden of debt will force us to the control of raw material bv Hi? Stale.

Dr. Michaelis cut a poor figure as Chancellor, but he is a iaithful bureaucrat, and reading between the lines of his exhortations and warnings it is easy enough to- see that his real concern is not for the spiritual welfare of the German people, but for the safety of the colossal bureaucratic machine in which he is a humble cog; It is a fact in which the Allies may take much, comfort that his anxiety and his fears for the future rest upon a real foundation. Nothing will tend more to the final overthrow of Prussian militarism and the bureaucratic system in which it finds political expression than such economic conditions as are in store for Germany when her criminal attack 011 peaceful nations has come to an end in failure and defeat.

In his forecast of conditions to arise, i)i;. Minima is has erred only on the side of moderation. He has passed over the fact that when tho time for reconstruction comes (levmany will labour under an enormous initial handicap as a result of war finance which has taken the form of reckless inflation, and of raising loans, not only to meet new charges, but lo pay interest on loans raised at an earlier date. Britain, besides creating sinking fund for every loan, has paid a substantial proportion of her war charges out of taxation. Proceeding on the theory that she will collect indemnities," Germany has conducted her war operations from first to last" tin credit. As a result, when peace is concluded her people will bo saddled with an overwhelming burden of additional taxation. That such a burden will toll with crushing effect is sufficiently obvious. It has been truly observed that the scarcity of food ami raw material will be a very serious problem for all the belligerents when the war is over, and>that there will lie no masric in a Peace Conference which will enable them to pass from universal depletion to sudden plenty. For Germany, her defeat once accomplished, the outlook will be desperate. Thanks to their sea

power and their possession of the bulk of the world's mercantile tonnage, the Allies will have practically a monopoly of oversea markets, and though thev'have serious problems to face, will be reasonably well placed to cope with them. Germany's outlook in the matter of obtaining raw materials and supplies vital to her industries and reconstituting her export trade is made very much darker than it would otherwise be by the inroads her submarines have made on the merchant shipping of the world. Any prospect the U-boats ever lnicl of swaying the fate of the war has vanished, but their piratical depredations will serve, a lasting purpose in heavily intensifying the retribution that is in store for' Germany after the war. Granted that the Allies remain firm in their present resolution, Germany's fete is to emerge from the war economically as well as morally bankrupt, and with years of want and privation in prospect. Even full freedom . .to exploit Russia and the East, though it would menace the future security of the world, would not enable her to find any speedy solution of her economic problems, and she will certainly be given no such •freedom if the Allies win such a. victory as may be hoped for. Insensate greed supplied Germany'with her molive for plunging the world into war. Poverty, want, and dearth for many years to come wmstitnto an' appropriate retribution, and it is at least, possible that these conditions will lead to such a political upheaval as will finally relieve the world of the nightmare of Prussian militarism.