GERMAN ACTIVITY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3955, 13 June 1929, Page 1

GERMAN ACTIVITY.

Germany- is forced by circums'tences to make a bold lid for a -lairg© export trade. It is stated that it lias become a matter of conviction among Gei|mlan business men, and those in responsible positions in the Government, that there can be no economic recovery in the country except through a vast expansion of export. The home market can only revive after unemployment has disappeared, but the capital necessary for productive relief works cannot be borrowed so long as the reparations remain as tliev are and interest rates are so high. The only other way to provide work for all iis by vastly increasing production. The mere necessity of paying the reparations tribute implies that the present deficit of £90,000,000 in the German trade balance must be converted into a. surplus of at least £IOO,000,000. It appears that the Leipzig Fair is the solution of this national problem. ,tn 1914 Germany’s total export was 10,097,000,000 marks. In. 1927 Germany’s total export only amounted to the cquivalcntof 7,'626 million marks, of which finished manufactures were valued at 5,540 million marks. That is one cause of unejmploym'ent in Germany, and it is said that there are over two million unemployed in that country. To meet the position it is proposed to engage in intensive commercial publicity and to spend between thirty and forty million marks annually. To prevent waste through bureaucratic methods German industry demands that a large share of the money shall pass through the hands of the organisers of the Leipzig Fair. This body has already created out otf purely private initiative the embryo of this new world organisation. In ten \ ears its network of publicity centres has covered the whole earth. Outside of Germany there are eleven chief centres in vajrious capital cities and 190 actijve agents in other great cities. Its propaganda Is printed in every European and some Asiatic languages. Building on the successful beginning made by the Fair, it is proposed to establish a “Business Man’s New Service,” to be attached to the diplomatic and consular service. It is to be provided with funds for remitting telegraphic information fro'm all parts of the world, to be entrusted to business men who have spent many years in the 'respective. countries. Markets offering a peic-iial attraction Ito Germany aro said to be South America, China, India, Australia, and New Zealand. These plans show that the Leipzig' Fair has acquired a hew significance, and is likely to become a powerful factor in foreign countries and one that exporters elsewhere will have to reckon with.