BACKGROUND OF WAR

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 110, 3 February 1919, Page 7

BACKGROUND OF WAR

THE ECONOMIC FACTOR MR. ANDREW WEIR'S VIEWS Three men well acquainted with tho economic conditions of tho world havo spoken to me during the last year with great intimacy on the struggle with Germany. These thrco men are the late Lord Ehondda, Lord Leverhulme, and Mr. Andrew Weir. Lord Lcverhulmo is in a singular position to know the great commercial facts which stand like ghosts behind the warring armies. Lord Khondda, who knew these facts equally .well, horo a colossal share of their burden. lli\ Andrew Weir, better acquainted perhaps than either of them, with the whole range of these facts is still bearing a sharo of the, burden which is vital to our victory. ■Now, itd'is a curious, thing, writes Harold Begbie ( in'the "Daily Chronicle," that while I have found,statesmen.and soldiers in moods of occasional pessimism, I have never heard ouo word from these three men of business which was not confident of victory. Each in his own. way—Leverhulme with a smiling vehemence . of diction; li-hondda with that soft boyish laughter which was so engaging and made one fee] that lie looked on lifo as a game; Andrew- with, a grave, unsmiling countenance, ami ■ a subdued voice which shuns vigorous words as ' though they Were immodesty-each in his own way has declared to me. an identical faith, tho. faith that German militarism will bo defeated, and absolutely defeated; by the economic facts of the struggle. • Wo pray in church:'"That it may please Thco to strengthen such as do stand: and to comfort and help the weak-liearted; and to raise up them that fall; and, finally, to heat down Satan under our feet." The answer to this prayer may riot come through'the soldier; but it seems to mo that it.js coming, and sooner than many'suppose, .through the British Navy and the num.: of. business. ':. '.'.-■ . .• - "I don't care about making public * statements," Andrew Weir said to me. ■the other day: "first, because I am merely, a> servant of the soldier, called in to help him in the matter of supplies, and, by the way, evory doldier I have had to do with is n hero; and, second, because by temperament and everything else my place is in the background." : .■".''.' *'. "Still," I answered; "it is in the background that the struggle may bo decided." \ "The only statement I should care to publish," he went on, "would be a tribute to tho soldier as a man of business. It pains me to see how eagorly tho critics seize upon any mistake that the soldier happens to fall into, as though ho had douo nothing but commit mistakes. I should like it to be known all .over 1 tho country that I found at the AVar Office an admirable system/that it was administered by devoted men of first-rate ability, and that all I have done, helped by men liko Mr. James Currie, is to enlarge .and develop that system, working in the closest sympathy with the soldiers who havo assisted mo at every turn, and are still in command •oE it." . No Doubt At All. This is true enough; but the.soldier would bo the first to say that Andrew Weir has so enlarged and developed this system that he might now well stylo himself not only tho SurveyorGeneral of Supply, but the World's Merchant! For, to .make certain that tho armies of the Allied'nations have everything essential to human ( life, this quiet, imperturable, slow-speaking and gentle-mannered shipowner has gradually placed his hands .upon the raw materials of the whole world, and' now knows exactly .what.the earth is bring-j iiig forth, ami'where' those raw materials will, eventually i-o. -. When ho had ceased speaking with nil almost affectionate admiration of tho soldier, I asked him, ■ thinking of tho weak-hearted, whether he had any doubt of tho end. "AVo have only to keep our heads," ho replied, "not meikdy to defeat our enemies, but to make them accept our own peace terms; - It is a question of endurance, tho Germans will havo to sue for peace. They may struggle; thoy may make two or three .onvulsivo efforts to esbape their doom; but unless they can do two things which.look extremely difficult, that is to say, defeat our armies in the' field and sweep our navies from the rea; they are irretrievably doomed. Economically speaking, wo hold them at our mercy. This is not a matter of surmise-.; it is a dogma of the'situation. . '".We know the economic condition of Germany. We know it intimately. It is a condition which every serious statesman in Germany must) legard with despair. It is no exaggeration to say that the people of Germany ore staggering to destruction. Behind the still imposing array df Prussian -militarism the people.are swaying on tho

edge of ruin, and the economic life of the nation, is swaying on the edge of chaos. The German Government knows our economic situation as thoroughly as wo know theirs. lam glad that they do. Oiii' own Position. "Our situation has its inconveniences, but it is without the clement of peril. We are not in want. Wc never shall he in want. Economically speaking, tho peril for us is over; but for the Germans it is every day morn critical. -It is more'thai! critical. If is hopeless. Until their ships can sail the sen, and find raw materials'to take homo, which would be as difficult as getting afloat, that peril will intensify till they break under' it. They are beginning to break under it now. Thov may break under it suddenly or tare!ily'but the process has already begun livery fact in the economic probleji). every siiiglo one, is against them, and -I dead against them." I The Only Possible Issue, ■ I asked him what he thought of the German as an organiser, and he said that''he thinks wo have.allowed ourselves to. be overawed by ' Prussian megalomania. "The German," he said, "is a person ,to be suspected rather than feared. Until ho repents-we shall have to keep an eye on him. Ho certainly overrates'himself as an organiser, and underrates the organising abilities of less talkative nations. Then ho overlooks tho moral qualities of other nations. Bopauso of this .blindness he has brought an artificial prosperity to ruin." Andrew Weir is not a-hloodthirsty | person. I -1111 sum he would listen with pationce'and modesty to air intellectual pacifist. But ho replies to men of this school that an defeat of Germany is essential to the peace, of tho world. Ho has a reason for this statement. Germany's present ruleis, ho is quite certain, would not consent to enter into any negotiations which did not from the outset guarantee to them a completo economic freedom. They would only lay down the sword, if they were allowed to take up the "economic weapon, But with that weapon in their hand Prussian militarism would still remain absolute master of tlie docile millions of Germany. The war would not be ended; it would only bo interrupted. Germany would not have_ lost. the war; she wouid havo won.it. The Only Way. . There can be] he argues, only 0110 of two ends to tin's war. .Either the civilian population'of Germany must renounce militarism alid signify its sincere desire to enter into a League of Nations as an honourable and democratic people, or militaristic Germany must be held firmly and quite mercilessly at tho economic disposition of other Powers. • This for Andrew Weir is the single aiid indisputable issue of tho war.- If is the one and absolute condition of peace. He points out that the great assurance for the Briton lies in the fact that Germany still pins her faith to. the sword. It means that no other hope is left to her. She dare not enter into peace negotiations.' If the sword fail, she perishes. (When, the sword does break in her hand, we possess an. infallible means for bringing the people ol Germany into a League of Nations.) Thereto] 0, wc must hold out, with a sure confidence, till the Kaiser's shining sword shines no longer to the blinding of his people's eyes. A cloud is darkening in the German sky which already dulis even- the scar- - let blood on that shining sword. It is the cloud-of economic rum. .jiurii ■ tho next few months that cloud will darken' and spread till the whole land of Germany is overshadowed by storm. [ "I began my work at the War Office," Andrew Weir told mo. "with faith-in the common sense and sobriety of my countrymen. .I, have .. seen nothing' since to mako.nic.-dou'uu thoso qualities. •We."have...only got to-keep, our heads,' mid to practise a reasonable economy, to secure the one encrwhich can atono lor the sacrifices of'the war. Germany is not striving for Victory; she is struggling to avert dcleat." Labour for the State. -I asked him if ho intends to go back to his own private concerns when the War is over. "Yes," he replied, "but not to woric as I worked before.." And he confessed to me that labour for tho State has given him a deeper sense of satisfaction than he ever experienced in working for himself. ' '■' ■ 1 This unassuming man who has" helped in the background of war to make •lis economically secure, and at the same time has saved the country hun[dreds'of thousands of pounds, looks I iiito tho commercial future without misi giving. ,He believes in tho foundational j principle of Free Trade, but would now I call it Fair Trade. He sees' that the ; State will have to exercise a certain I measure of commercial control after tini war, but would have that control lifted !as saori as passible. He trusts to the I good sense of his countrymen to solve I labour .disputes in a peaceable manner bv_ -means of some bonus system; and