THE RISE OF GERMAN INDUSTRIALISM.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 221, 27 October 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE RISE OF GERMAN INDUSTRIALISM.

As might be expected, the attempt made by England to break the German monopoly in several branches of manufactures has not escaped pungent criticism in the enemy press. The leading Munich paper, one of the ablest journals in the Central Empires, is quoted by "Nature" as expressing itself in the following terms: "Do the English really believe that by means of Customs and patent laws, by waging an eeono- j mic war, and by boycotting our goods, | they can counter-balanc•; the German intelligence? '' If this remark were restricted to those industries where mod-em scientific research, and particularly research in chemistry and elec-tric-it, plays an important part, iis confident tone would in great measure bo justified, and the edge of the satire would be felt; but applied to manufacturing industries in general the statement ir, ludicrous. The proper ioply to this criticism, according to a well-informed writer, is to bo found in tho lise of industrialism in Germany itself, an occurrence so modern that no delving in obscure corners of economic history i.-, necessary for its study. Germany bad ample resources in coal, but her available supplies of native iron were meagre. Yet below her soil were treasure troves of iron ore which she eou'd not open. It was English brains which supplied her with the key. In the manufacture of steel in quantity, and in the forging of the massive parts of modern machinery, the dependence on British genius was so great that the nanus of Isasmyth and Bessemer became household words in Prussia and the Rhinoland. The German universities no doubt took a very creditable part in the rise and development cf electrical theory, but where would technical electricity be to-day if the AngloSaxon contribution were cut out? Most interesting of all is the rise of textile mil-n fact tire in Germany, and particularly in the south. Few industries have started with such unpromising material in the way of operatives as the German peasant. For centur'es the uncouth tillers, men and women togcth >r, slaved in the fields with oldfashioned hoes; for centuries the women carried the burden of implements and produce, poised on their heads or hanging on their coarsened arms. A slow, clumsy, unadaptable folk, avers:? to change in habits, eating meat perhaps but once a week, and with but little sanitary conscience—how was it possible out of this primitive peasantry to create a class of manufacturing operatives? In reality it turned Jut to be exceedingly simple An army of young, energetic Germans, of good general education, migrated to England to learn the elements of the technical processes. England, as usual assessing each development by its immediate and never by its remote trade values, was delighted to have so many docile, industrial and polyglot clerks and workmen who were content with a low wage ami who gave so little trouble This free tutoring of unskilled aliens, soon to become skilled riva's, typically magnanimous and unutterably stupid, according to the point of view, went en to such an extent that there were cities such as Bradford where Germans constituted a fair fraction of the population. Having then the knowledge, the coal power and the man power, nothing more was needed than a strong protective policy to establish firmly t.ic young industry. The result constituted one of the great economic changes of the nineteenth century. Even into remote valleys of Swabia and Baden, where fifty years ag > the only human beings to be seen were occas'onal hunters and forest, is, tue wave of industri il progress entered, and now huge, sprnv. l:ng mills and factories, and the clustered houses of tiie worker*, with scuools, churches and garden inns, ire visible. The agricultural workers if South (Jerri any eked out a precario is existence with vine, apple orcnards and pbun tillage, these primary industries still continue, improved of course in many ways, but the surplus population, instead of emigrating as formerly n million- to America and elsewhere, ha-, lately \ivti retained, thanks to the growing manufacture);. What •owe. might consider the chief marvel of it :.!!, the transfoimati'-n of the old-world p-.>-ai|-. v.ho po-M-r-ed only a small fraction of the adaptability, sp.-d aril rc-ourc" of lb-- Au-tralasian. into a

successful weaver of text '■''■•. or operalive handling maebinery, ha., attract d little i.otic Tie opportunity »:• created, and, h- ua human, he could be impelled or entsi d into acquiesM'iice with the new sy«U-m. In the tnatt-r of textile-. Germany, with a!! lut *<•:- ,111 V, lias added relatively littV 10 the -:i;u tola! '■: iiiipioveiueilti in the various pro;«-4-. Had ri.e ben content to be, (Veil Hi tie '•'• mate d<'ta!.». : , iiien-c« pi i- oi KiJ'_'!and, the ' -tabl:-)i-HHiii -A the indu-tiy. \>n perl\ prot <t--0,1. would >et have I ll well Woltil „i,j|,.. As it «n«. her iau.ous institutes ~| i-.. ..ire!: in ■•-•■!!' •'. whiM t'n y dominated nro-'p -- in li e dyeing " ! !•''-

,],,. ], r , ~■■■.. ol -pll:i II". ill! I v■ .n in;:. Hero ill ti at «:"- re M ilH.'d. when Ui" r.Mjui.-i'.e eapit.il. or- ani-at.on :nid I'.- .1 protection wre at liand. wa* that the ~,„.■:;, ve. should pi'SM-s what skill was ne c-aiv. WluKi main hold that ||„. in, -v.: in". el!i« L-in > ol nia.-hiuc:\

~, ,|, -, lewe ■ demands on I he inte11i- ,,,.„,,. ~; |h w. rkmaii and l lids t i 1,.,,, lo: in him into an unskilled turner ~| handles and null i ol lev, is. 1.-r----niain ii i i:o\er allowed that \ lew lo imp.<-e |he l.'.isl . he. k oil tha devel >•<- tllelll i'l her iMe.ll • .v.leliis ol l.vllllK ll n.ioi ii" N\ hilst i u« en'.'.'.n.' the lib: i ■, nutnii e In .it en ol the nianai'.er. lie !■:!. net 111 l.le tile ni:-..lkc ol 11 ':>. ti!!:'. |lie le. I II . il e 111, alien e| lb - m: 1. \\ here he sf.tn el the .ill', -'i: ipii>\«d : ,1. .>e n'eiie ■. lei: '-•. el , em e. m a'l il.e.e ,1 : . , I , n ■ ol ellol I nll.lV applied , 1-..--1 111 Mild l>lM I. s ill ' , .Ml. I'lll" I. In i<l.v'..na' i'ii:'ineei .ii". no proper

understanding of what lias boon ae-hiov- v ed, and most certainly not the least possible advance, could occur without a good knowledge of electrical theory. J-v academic attractions of yesterday, such as line s of force, magnetic hysterests and the like, become part of the practical man's mental outfit today. The same is found, if possible to a greater degree, in the chemical industries. By allowing Germany to acf|UTe a practical monopoly of chemical laboratories, England bas found to ker disgust that Germany, only as a natural and inevitably consequence, however, soon posseted a monopoly in .homieal industries. Many of these, it so happens, are key industries, the manufacture of dyes being the great example, where, by a monopoly of manufactu 3 strongly founded on a monopoly of knowledge, the energies cf the other countries can b L . put in peril. The dyes, drug*, optical glass and perfumes of Germany, the electrical lamps and X-ray apparatus of America, are most certainly not the outcome of smart business only. Yet this simple, and, to nil people with some knowledge or science, obvious fart Britain and *ho Emuir.e have steadfastly refused to recognise. When confronted with statistics of tiie alkali trade, or the glass, dye, electric lamp or ,'ine chemical trade, the reply of the coliticians has been to display considerable learning in the intricacies of patent law. or to suggest the creation of a Royal Commission. They fail to see that in the establishment and maintenance of a manufacture, knowledge and a fiscal barri r must be found together; in some cases the knowledge required includes scientific theory of a high order; :i others, and the majority, the stress must be on what may be called the purely technical.