GERMANY'S SUPPLY OF RAW MATERIALS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 298, 5 September 1918, Page 6

GERMANY'S SUPPLY OF RAW MATERIALS

AN ALLIED BOYCOTT

DERNBURG'S " ECONOMIC LEAGUE OF

NATIONS"

' Germany's 'difficulties, are of _ two kinds. ■ Some' of them may conceivably be lessened by the "free road" which ehe boasts of having in the East; for instance, she may improve her food position somewhat after the next harvest, though the prospects at present, even as regards Rumania, arc mot particularly. brilliant; rand she might improve her man-power, either by direct ! recruitment in her Eastern client-states or by recruitment of labourers, v thus releasing Germans; as to what the prospects of this are noinformation is available. But there are other things on which the East produces little or no effect. , It cannot ameliorate the financial position, the most serious of all Germany's troubles, by one single mark; tho German Government have still to face the fact Jthat,' after the war, tlioy must meet their financial losses single-handed, land that"their.situation will be next to impossible; ' It 1 cannot ■ alter the _ fact Ithat Germany's overseas trade is in ruins, and will remain in ruins for •just so long as the Allies please. And it can make remarkably little difference on the question of raw materials; here the Allies hold Germany in their bands.

It is known that many Germans who (think about the matter are becoming terrified at the prospect of their economic future, and tho evidence accumulates daily. The present writer said in April that when the Western offensivo finally failed wo should get an appeal for pity, in the shape of a claim that law materials should be rationed in proportion to the needs of tho several countries. The first appeal has already come, though tho is not over; it is contained in an important article in the Vienna Neue freid Presse of May 19, entitled Raw Material Boycott 'against the Central Powers," by Herr Dernburg, the German ex-Minister for the colonics, who earlier in the war I "was head of tho German propaganda 'in America. Of course, Dernburg does not call it an appeal; but an appeal it is, none the less. After a general •' review of the question, lie assumes that if Germany cannot get a supply iof raw materials as a peace condition ijthe war will go on. The question then Arises, "Are the Central Towers sufficiently strong economically to hold out 4n the futuro. against tho stoppage of raw, materials?" ; He thinks a / great deal' may be done by Germany in the iEast—a matter on which there ma,y perhaps be two opinions—but that if ,the Allies oppose a raw material boycott to Germany's great successes "it is useless to hide from ourselves that ,ive are here concerned with an object iof compensation of very great import- . ance.... . A complete substitute for the' trade with three-quarters of the •world, and for' the absence of their raw materials, will be impossible for us." What, he asks, is to be done? Obviously a balance must be struck. If the Entente has all the oceans, and all America, Australia, and most of 'Asia behind it, Germany has "for the time being" the near East; mutual . adjustment must take place. The German assumption that the whole world is longing to continue business relations with Germany is (continues Dernburg) wrong, as anyone knows who follows opinion in France, Britain, and still more the colonies., "It | is not. enough for Germany to demand a supply of raw materials; in certain circumstances there-must be the possibility of enforcing the demand, and .that, on all nnrties." How is this to be done? Dernburg's programme is an economic league of nations. "In view of the shortage (of raw . materials) the whole world, will inevitably be rationed. This cannot be done in any other way than by an agreement between nil States to the effect that the material be apportioned on principles previously laid down with the assistance cf' an international commission for distribution, armed with the, authority of ;e ...court of arbitration. ... The ..situation requires international distribution,",and this must be "internation- ! oily -guaranteed: by international contentionsl imposing -obligations- on tho States, i.e., a league of nations for the .universal-world provision of a humanity of a Germany)' suffering from an impoverishment of raw muterials — conventions which Germany, it may bo ,(supposed, .would observe with the same [loyalty with which she has observed the Hague Conventions, the treaty guaraniteeing Belgiunij the treaty of Brest[Litovsk. And just at this point Demfonrg breaks down and gives away the iwhole of bis case on behalf of suffering ,3"humanity" in one naked cry of anguish as a German: "a thing of this kind can-not-Watl^ne'dMnJiheevent of a pure imigbt-poace. 11 ' Tie' speaks the truth. Germany could only get it by permission; the German sword cannot hack , through salt water. Is it wrong to call ;l)this an appeai foi pity:' • _ . : - The ordinary plain man in the Allied !<countrieb—at any rate, in Britain and | 'America—certainly sees in a league of nations the only futuro hope of the 'World, and certainly means to have it if Ihe can. But what .'he means to have is a leagUe of nations, not a league of autocratic Governments, a revived Holy ''Allianco; if "Germany" ever enters that league, "Germany" has got to mean a good deal more than ; and something different from, the Kniser, with his war 'leaders and a handful of bureaucrats. [And it is well to bo quite clear what prominent Germans mea-i when they jtalk about a league of nations, for they talk about it a good deal; they mean Some sort of arrangement between Governments, in which the autocratic Gcr- : Itian Government, constituted as at present, is to take tile lead. Jf Herr Dcrnfcurg really wants an economic league of nations—if by aiiy chance he does moan something more than a relief so-

ciety for extricating Germany from the jnorass in which she has landed herself, Jby making war —ho knows quite well what tho conditions are for Germany; apart from the reparation that she has ■to make, she has got so to reform horself as to become a nation beside whom other nations can live and with whom they can work, instead of an autocracy brandishing the sword. Till th's happens the Allies will, it is to be hoped; keep their raw materials for themselves «nd their friends.