IN GERMANY TO-DAY

Evening Star, Issue 19666, 20 September 1927, Page 12

IN GERMANY TO-DAY

REBUILDING OF A GREAT NATION

Not I()ago >ii ‘ John o’ London s Weekly’ Lord Liddell olfercrMiis impressions of a. Hying visit to Germany. Llpre, in Lie saiiio journal, is ;m interesting sequel from llio pen ol a great Jsibor loader. .Mr Robert Wiltiains was tor inanv years secretary of llio Trausnorl, Workers’ federation and president of tlie International 'transport Workers’ federation from 191:) to 1920. lie lias travelled widely, ami is an authority on Labor conditions in almost every country in the world:— Germany, and especially South Germany, is a delight!ul place, m which to .pend a- holiday. In the larger centres prices are about the -same as in .kingland for most things, hut off the beaten track a- holiday can be spent very economically if one has some knowledge of tlie, language. It will bo pleasant, too, for nowhere in Germany to-day is there any animosity towards Lngland or Englishmen. THRIVING 1N IJtSri! T. AT v recent visit, however, was more a, business visit than a holiday. I. found a. Germany which has renounced political dreams and Imperialist motives, and has settled down to a trade and business-building campaign. It matters little, says in effect the German, under what flag the people of am- country live and move and have their being, so long as wc can sell them our goods. They are working hard, they arc organising fast, and they are beginning—more than beginning—to have as strict regard tor quality as the English. “ Made in Germany ” is no longer a synonym for shoddy. In Hamburg 1 found that great activity lias been experienced in the shipyards, and the belief was that it will continue. Ship-building in .Britain has been very hard- hit; we have paid millions in ‘‘doles” to workers who were unemployed because wc had taken over Germany’s mercantile fleet. German ship-building workers have been busy building, ships to replace those handed over. Germany h|l after the armistice about a million tons ol shippiii 0 left to her; that has beem increased to over three million tons, all of which is modern and Veil equipped. Whether the recent discovery of a new process for extracting oil from coal will change their plans 1 do not know, but the Germans are planning many of theii new ships to hum coal and not oil. Their new ships are smaller and not quite so fast as the big liners of Britain and America. In passing one may recall that many of our biggest and best ships aro ex-German liners built before the war and now some thirteen years old. The smaller ships are less costly to maintain, even making allowance for the one-fifth to one-sixth reduction in speed. With these up-to-date ships the Gormans arm making a big- effort to capture a middle-class tourist traffic. '‘Vo Linited Stales ‘‘quota” system has

killed all the profit in the emigrant trade. The Germans aro replacing it by organising tourist services on massproduction lines. They arc realising, as certain distributors of popular commodities here are doing, t hat, mind ion in overhead charges ami efficient services, catering for huge numbers at reasonable prices, gives more profit than high places charged to a Jew select customers. INTENSE CULTIVATION. North Germany is a flat < <>u ll f r\ , jn.-t as Holland-■■ through winch one pas-os —is a Hat country. As the train rolled through one could see that almost every acre is under some lonu of cultivation. Comparatively lew rattle were to be seen; better use was found for the land than cattle-gni/.ing. One is struck by Uio number of women working in the fields; at the number of both sexes, the soil is poor, sandy mainly, but it appeared that moro is produced trom this pouf soil than wo in Great Britain can produce from our richer material, climatic conditions being comparable. 1 ho traces of Germany.s ordeal during llio war aro must apparent in the children who were born during its latter stages. On tho train Irom Cologne to Hamburg wo saw a party of children, aged between Ilf and years, wlio were obviously .sulferiug from malnutrition, cither pro or post-natal, or both. I.’oughly speaking, ihe masses of the people arc on a standard ol lito approximating to PU per cent, of their pre-war real wages. liolure the war real wages weie slightly lower than ours. (Lie finds, however, that the les-sor-skilled workers are perhaps a little better off than bclurc the war, while the skilled aro rather less well oil, ibis, of course, resembles the conditions obtaining here in England. THE EX-SOLDIER’S VIEW. While feeling towards England and Englishmen is friendly, as it also is towards Americans, there is no Jove for Trance; nor arc the Germans enamored of Belgium or Italy. Hatred there is none, but there is not tho cordial feeling expressed towards Britishers or Americans. J was a hie to meet many who had soldiered during tho war. There was no bitterness then; either, but J found that those who had suffered.most were keenest in their desire U> find ways and means to world peace. There is no conscription there now; simply a small army based on voluntary service; and with conscription has gone the dominance of the officer caste and many of the evils of militarism, in Berlin an English friend and I saw outsido the ex-Kaiscr’s palace the demonstration organised on May Day by tho trade unions, at which 500,000 men, women, and young people made clear their hatred of militarism, Imperialism, and war. I lei t England at a time when much ink was being spilled upon the question of the extension of the franchise to women of 21 and over. 1 was interested to find that Germany’s system of universal suffrage implied votes for women on tho same terms as men, at the age of twenty. 1 was informed that the

women took as lively an juiciest in politics as did the men. . The home life of Germany is much different from ours. Ear 100 many ol the workers live in huge tenements in tho big towns. These arc all scrupulously eleuu, as most things German arc, hut I find these; huge barrucklike edifices appalling. Constant efforts aic made to raise the standard ol comfort since the war; and smaller ianulies aro tho rule. Germany now' shows a. dodine in the birth nitc ,tttinbutublc to tlie propaganda in iavor oi birth eontrol. Better to bring up a small L* lll ' V efficiently than large families less efficiently, they say. If ARID CHANGES.

Industrially, conditions have nut changed very much. in comparing Germany with Britain, and in comparing pre-war Germany with the Gcimany of to-day, it must, be rcmombeied That Germany commenced her industrial career laler than Great Britain, am! one might say that she commenced with all the advantages drawn Irom Britain's earlier experience. In organisation, in large-scale product ion, in efficient, met hods, and so on, Biitain s changes since the war have been in effect bringing her up to a standard already established by Germany More the war. That, Germany lias increased tbo number of iudusti to which lai'c'e-scale production lias been applied; that, her facilities for research work have been increased; that she, has increased tho range of her industries; and that she has been steadily finding wavs ami means ot saving time and labor and avoiding fatigue in industrial work is true l but slu; commenced it all before tho war. The war and its attermath have simply increased the pace at which the changes have been made. In social lilo one finds the popular cafes and beer gardens as big a Icaluie as ever. Beer ilrmking is moic ol a social function than in England; withal the beer is lighter ami ilicrc is less drunken ness. It is no uncommon tiling to sec the workman, his wile, and bis children drinking together in a calc, or some out-of-door resort. They bring their food and pay tor a little beer. Spirit drinking is very rare. DEVOTION TO SPOUT.

Germany is becoming a great sportloving nation The energy formerly devoted to military drill and preparing for war now finds expression in tennis, lootball, walking tours, and boxing. The German takes to outdoor sport naturally, but he takes it seriously and there is more organisation of games and sport than we find in Britain. It is good to find that there is more participation in outdoor sports. We in Britain arc becoming a nation not of sportsmen, but of onlookers.

The one thing that remains of the old militarism is the love of color and uniform. The uniforms of the old Gorman army testified (o a love of color, and the uniform i I.sc If testified to the dominance of the militarist caste. The army on the old basis has gone, Ihe militarist caste has gone, hnt the. love of color and uniform remains; consequently every functionary seems to have a resplendent uniform, and the colors range over the entire spectrum; and the most humble Gorman functionary seems to he able to enjoy the privilege of wearing a uniform whose magnificence and- splendor would in England he reserved strictly for highlyplaced naval and military officers—and cinema commissionaires.