GERMANY AFTER THE WAR.

Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 1022, 4 November 1871, Page 3

GERMANY AFTER THE WAR.

TfcSb 'following description, extracted from the VoUueeitung, of the effect of the late war on German industry cannot but be interesting to our readers. It is only in •uoh descriptions that we can perceive the full loss of Germany from her military system, which in time of war withdraws the strength of the nation from industrial pursuits : — The war has not only interrupted work, but has destroyed thousands of places of work. The four million thalers which are to be Spent for the assistance of those who have suffered loss, are as a drop on a hot stone which, hissing, drops on to it, and in an instant, disappears in smoke. Thousands of men of the Landwehr and Reserve return to their homes drowned with victory and covered with wreaths, but they find their dwellings destitute, their wives in want, their children neglected, their workshops destroyed, their customers dispersed, their credit shaken, and the want of their manufacture lessened. Their rent is still due, which has accumulated for a year. New tools have to be bought, which their wives in time of distress have either pawned or sold. Materials have to be laid in stock, to enable them, in ease of an order being given, to begin work. Repairs and clothes are necessary. The bakers, butchers, and retailers have got to be paid. If work is not begun at once, the cry of distress will soon be as distinctly heard as the echo of rejoicing. All our small trades are founded on the credit allowed them by the great dealers. They never pay ready money but by a bill of exchange, which delays the payment until their goods are sold. The diminished supplies of the war year have increased the small bills to enormous sums. As long as the owner' of the business was in the field the bills were prolonged. When they return home the bills have to be taken up if they wish to begin * work again, and their distress becomes greater, as they are obliged to commence work again with renewed vigor. The same journal very properly points out that the French indemnity will not compensate the private losses of Germany, and German industry will gain nothing directly, because the money will be largely used in replacing munitions of war, and otherwise assisting warlike operations. The German triumph is thus far from unalloyed, and as France has suffered far more, it would be difficult indeed to measure the net suffering of the two belligerents. ■'