IN GERMANY.

Hokitika Guardian, 20 October 1923, Page 4

IN GERMANY.

DURING THE CRISIS. LONDON, Aug. IS, After four and a half years of wearying negotiations and heated controversy the European position is at its lowest point of hopelessness. Even those who realise its gravity are tired of puzzling over it. But a visit to Germany clears things up wonderfully, ft gives one definite views one way or the other, nil.', makes one somewhat less of an ;.imchair critic.

The moral, and ideally right sti.iupiint. is that Germany lias commit rod an international crime, and It 1- but

hare justice that she should be P'mh cd by making restitution for da; ope done. Now, most of the German people, in spite of what is often said, hate much the same ideas ol right nr « i i j ns the French. Yet to them the (aOhnvo been so di-torted (apart ioni the fact that they would naturally see '.ltem differently) that they are tirrvi.y convinced that they are in the right. Em the French the drama starts in ISiO. The Germans go hack to Louis XIA and Napoleon (whom no one should attempt to defend). It is quite pi,a i to them that the French began the wf r

to regain Alsace-Lorraine. I lie Belgian invasion is countered by that of the Ruhr, with its starvation, brutality. and shooting of innocent citizens in times el peace. Tho Government nt their poverty-stricken country has. of course, done its ninto-l to nay reparations. Snell is the Gemini) view. In former times the eonxeri nonces of defeat had to he accepted as a mailer of course. But now we justify them on moral grounds. If we want reparations we niu.-t see clearly that, hy punishing a criminal who honestly denies Ins guilt we are making' him a martyr in his own eyes. Moreover, the accused believes that his enemy, France, is determined to annex permanently a large part of his possessions. The invasion of the Ruhr was the final act that convinced the Germans that France wanted to crii-li them as Rome did Carthage. The mutual hate ami fear between Germany and France are greater now than at ally time in history, infinitely greater than at the time of the Armi.-tiee. If Germany believed that the French desired nothing more than reparation,s this would not be so. Britain during the war (witness the "Hymn of Mate”) was hated far more than France. Now, although Germans know that we are ready to insist on our share of reparation-, this has died down in a most remarkable way. Individually the Germans are as c(Hirloons and kindly to us a- the Frcueli. T'olitieallv, and in the I’rc-s. thou: is a distinct absence of hit ionics.-, ami almost an absence of anv liostiliiv. to

THE WILL TO LAY. The pm tossed French aim is "in etc ate in Germany the will to pay.” France has selected a method which, rightly or wrongly, the Germans will never forget or forgive. It has en-nied had relations, and probably wars, for another century or two. which llien was before some slight hope of avoiding. Il has avoided all methods ot either making payment possible or ensuring ii. Era nee is trying p. lone Germany to pay without lir-t seeing that ei udil ietts allow payment. I’iitaiu is doing neither. To make payment possible one tiling is vitally necessary. The mark nui-t be stabilised, and must remain stable long enough for normal conditions to reappear la fore even a enmmeie ement can he made el payment. To wmiersaud this we must examine the ml on conditions of Germany. During the six weeks of my visit the mark fell from Ci'd.tHJtl to .TfI,(KIO,(KIP to the il. L iItardly possible to convey an idea i (lawny ill which prices i ise ; it must be liwd through to be endorsteod. In' spite of the fall in the marl. I found I tilings not very much cheaper when 1 I left than when I arrived in ijv j weeks the price • i p ipe! i -''.’PP |e i ; cent. The Inmiiy I was staying willi j found to their eo-t that a met re of cloth had gone tip o();i per cent between the morning and the nl’iornonn of one day. Now it i-. anine.iueeil that from August In railway passenger rales will lie rai-ed f.'OII per cent. and freights 2111111 per cent, and a further ri-.e of unknown extent is prmni-cd for September I! These are not isolated in

stance-, but examples of what happens lor c'.ery ('.oiimoility. The average German, like mir-elves, • {i ( l not realise that there va- practically no limit to the fall of the mark. lienee the cu--tom of changing wages, .salaries, and

so forth into foreign currency at oner has not until lately been widely spread. But in any ease, the banks’ supplies would not have met tlie demand, and do not now. Coiisoqiienl ly there has been an orgy of spending, gradually increasing in inten-iiy, with the object of getting hold of something which will not vanish in the night like the paper mark. The shopkeepers, since most wholesale transactions take place in foreign curreney, conceal their stocks and sell as little as possible up to the last moment, to get the be-t exchange possible. The working classes have their wages rising just enough to give them a hare living wage, so far as I could judge. With the exchange they received usually about Is- per week, somet lines less.

Consider the number of people in England who derive an income from investments ot any kind. Consider that in (.'ermany all Imt an insignificant fraction of these incomes has vanished. Instead of I In* unemployment, dole, they have in Germany the middle-class dole. Otherwise the middle classes would by now he literally starved to dcatii. Even u> it is, I heard of several authentic cases ol starvation. Professional men, doctors, and so forth find their stirees of income dried up, and many become labourers. RENT AXI) BREAD.

There are two things that have made life possible in (•ermany. One is that rents have been controlled, and kept down to a perfectly ridiculous figure. l!ui this opportunism has brought about a housing shortage as acute as that in England. Xo repairs are ever made now, and landlords are in the same position as the rest of the investors. Talking about investors, it should he remembered that a dividend of 200 Per cent (which one often hears of) is not very much when the eurrenev it is

paid in sinks to one-fiftieth of its value in six weeks! The other tiling is that bread is rationed. and until hist month (July) Inis also had its price fixed low. Rut the agricultural classes have ahvavs had foreign markets to fall hack oh. (leaving still greater shortages in Germany), and are now comparatively prosperous. Rut milk is only for those under C or over (if), and I had no but-

tcr. eggs, or sugar either. Coal this winter will be unprocurable at any price, and wood very dear. It is true that the railways are fairly full. Jlut. no one travels any other than lonrtli class, and fares are verv low indeed, so that the colossal railway deficit is still mounting, in spite of the number of travellers. It is also true (hat the heer gardens are full. Rut German beer in a hot German summer is almost a necessity. Also, when your money disappears if you try to save it. it- is better to put it even into beer!