GERMANY TO-DAY

Hokitika Guardian, 15 January 1921, Page 1

GERMANY TO-DAY

SIGNS OK TRADE RECOVERY

LONDON, Nov. 18

Socially, Germany lias progressed very considerably since the collapse at the end of the war. The wave of deep despair that passed over the whole country was followed by a moral decline which ran through every stratum of society, and its effects are still noticeable. That it lasted so long (says the Berlin correspondent of “The Times”) was due in great part to continued political unrest, and it would not be safe to say that the last has been heard of adventurers who seek short-cuts to their goal by methods of violence. The old aristocracy, the landed interests, and the industrialists still profess to go in fear of a red revolution. As there is no mcans_of estimating the forces which a Communist rising could let loose their forebodings remain unallaved.

There are many signs of repair, and the chief among them is a desire to work. It is doubtful whether crime is more prevalent than it was before the war, but crimes are better advertised, and a false perspective is the result. There has been a decrease in crime sjn-e the beginning of the present year. In German cities there is always a scum that is driven to the surface by the forces of social intercourse. Today it is very apparent in Berlin, though not so noticeable in Munich or Hamburg. It is this froth that forces itself upon the observation of the passing traveller, leading him to believe that it is the life of the place. Berlin at first sight seems to take its appalling national problems so lightly as to he a city of everlasting pleasure. The restaurants hi age with light, a band blares in each one, there is good food in plenty, wine flows, one hears laugh: ter. The theatres, music halls, and cinemas command full houses; the Palais do Danse is nightly crowded, and only high-priced champagne (and such champagne!) is served. It seems like waste gone lipid. One has to look below the surface to see it for what it is, and then one also finds the real stuff. This boiling scum is given off by the profiteer, who is perhaps the greatest social menace threatening Germany today. But the.restaurants and < abarels of Enter den Linden and the neighbouring streets are as a small patch on a city of five millions. They are as nothing in a country ot 70 millions, and one must look elsewhere for the real state of things. There is in all cases a reawakened feeling for industrial and commercial energy. Agriculture, still the largest industry in Germany, is, of course, best off. Landowners, farmers, and farm workers all did well in the war. Some made large fortunes. Prices for produce are high and profits large. The labourers get their food as part ot their pay, and in Ibis respect they are much better off than the townsfolk, while iheir real wages have greatly ini leased, their hours have been shortened, their conditions improved, and there are more persons employed. Hie bulk of the heavy industry is also doing well. 1 1 is in comparatively lew bands, well organised, and bard at work; employment is good and wages are high. With the rest of German industry the ease is otherwise. Otily a few trades is there any briskness. There is still a great shortage of raw materials fm uuny industries; one hears complaints of a lack of coal and orders are wot coming in from abroad. Here and there a factory in its annual report states that it is fully employed, and booked up, but the general tale is one of working fewer days or shorter hours. And here, again, one must avoid being misled by appearance. There is a great demand for increased capital, and it is being called up in millions. This is a necessary outcome o. inflation. A much greater working capital is necessary to cv* v ,ry factory than was the ease in the days of tine gold mark. Much larger sums are needed for payments for raw materials, wages and working expenses. Similarly, a much higher price is charged for products, and a greatly increased rate of divdend is paid. Thirty per cent is i common rate. But it must be borne in mind that this is a paper payment on a gold-mark holding, representing no more than, perhaps, a tejith of its apparent valup.

One serious factor in retarding t)ie recovery of industry is the question of the socialisation of the c qal mines. In its present form the (demand is u heri.7 face of the general strike that followed upon the Tvapp Putsch ; a measure of socialisation was part of thpt bargain hetwpen the trade union leaders and the Government for cjillling the strike oil'. It has descended, a hopeless heritage, to the present Government. It js an embarrassment to the Cabinet and a constant drag on the trade. While it bangs over the country it checks enterprise and development of fresh mining ventures, compelling caution where otherwise a hold policy would be dictated. A committee of employers, coalusers and miners has reached a deadlock, and has had to elect an arbitration committee. But thfc whole country knows that the miners mean quick socialisation and the commercial world is filled with misgivings.

Coal deliveries to the Allies under the Peace Treaty are at the moment in advance of the scheduled quantity b,\ 250,000 tons—the best evidence, so far, of Germany’s good-will. Credit does not appear to present any great difficulty. . German industry may, in fact, be said to have struggled to its knees. *t lias been a. wonderful effort and in it the German industrial and mercantile classes have shown all their old skill and persistence. Now it is all a question of winning back the old markets and finding new ones. The home market offers an unlimited demand, but it will be some, considerable time befoire the manufacturer

will be able to turn his attention to it owing tp the condition of the country's finances. For the present he must

work for abroad, and in foreign .markets he is likely to become once more the hitter and dangerous competitor of other nations. At the root of the whole matter of the revival of German finances. The State is practically in a bankrupt position, but nobody wishes to use the word. The funded debt, which was about •5000 millions of marks in July, 1014 was 91,000 millions on November Ist , 1920; and the floating debt, which was 400 millions in July 1914 was 157,390 millions on November Ist, 1920. The total debt is 287,800 millions, and by the end of the financial year it is rxpected to reach some 380,000 millions.