The Daily News. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1914. RUINATION OF WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 152, 3 December 1914, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1914. RUINATION OF WAR.

In an interview with the Austrian imbassador before the outbreak of hostilities, Sir Edward Grey dwelt upon the likelihood of the war causing a complete collapse of European credit and industry, owing to the vast expenditure of money and the interference with trade. "Irrespective of who may be victors," he said, "many things might be swept away." By tins tine we are in a position to trace some of the consequences which have aiready made themselves .apparent. First of all began a general movement of economic panic. The Stock Exchanges closed; commercial credit disappeared; the shipping trade was paralysed; ships ceased to. sail; ports were closed; trade and industry almost stopped; many wealthy business men became bankrupt; employees were dismissed; food prices went up suddenly 30 or 40 per cent.; prosperous people began to lay in stocks ot food, and there was a threat of food riots and anarchy. At this time there was a fear that the Germans might cut oil' the food supplies of the United Kingdom by sea, and that their land forces Mid n;r ileets might actually carry ou: an invasion of the country. British merchants who had sent consignments of goods to Germany and to Austria lost the chance of payment. When we real of the ruin of Hamburg -merchants we may not immediately understand that I'riiisih firms are involved in their ruin (says tiie Auckland Star). Many British houses have branches in Hamburg and other commercial towns of Germany, and a still larger number depend for the successful continuance of their business upon German custom or German goods. Until this war Germany was one of the chief customers of the United Kingdom, purchasing yearly as much as £40,000,000 of goods. The sudden withdrawal of so great a volume of trade, can only bring bankruptcy to merchants | specially concerned, and general depres- J sion to the community. Orders for sending goods, not only to Germany and Austria, but to other Continental countries, had to be cancelled. This led to a sudden falling oil in the production of those things which had formerly been sent to Europe. Employees were dismissed, and their loss of wages in turn all'ected the trades which wore supported by their custom. The actual crisis passed with extraordinary rapidity, partly owing to the disappearance of all danger from invasion or blockade, but more largely to the prompt measures taken to preserve the normal condition of alVairs. The panic subsided almost as rapidly as it had begun. The Cabinet and several philanthropic societies and private individuals applied themselves energetically to checking the injurious consequences of the dislocation of commerce and, industry. The Government helped to restore financial confidence by guaranteeing the Hank of England against losses on bills accepted before the declaration of -war. They took over the railways, and also set up a committee of members of Parliament to deal with unemployment and the normal con; tinuance of industry. The worst of the storm was thus weathered. The. shipping trade revived owing to the new demands for the transport of troops, food and equipment for the land forces, and of coal and stores for the Xavv. The German mercantile marine having ceased to compete with the British, more ships, it soon became evident, were required for conveying the ordinary cargoes. The food panic subsided when the Government issued a list of maximum prices for articles of daily'consumption, and also published a statement that there was already within tlx; United Kingdom a five months' supply of food. The Canadian Government helped to relieve temporary distress by its free gift of !)S,UOO,OOt)Ibs of Hour. But after the actual crisis was over, more lasting consequences remained. The dispatching of the regular Army did not affect trade injuriously, but the enlistment of men engaged in production or distribution or constructive labour (like ploughmen and millers or masons) meant lessened 1 production and consequent scarcity. The middle classes of the United Kingdom of all ranks —families with incomes ranging from £l5O to £looo—have suffered most from the disorganisation of society, and they are not the people who will get any benefit from relief funds which are applied to the employees and the poor. The merchant class and tradespeople are badly affected, but those who seem to be feeling the pinch most are men and women engaged in art or intellectual pursuits, novelists, authors of all kinds, journalists, actors, painters, sculptors, architects and musicians. Many London theatres and concert halls are closed, and hundreds are thus thrown out of their livelihood, both those employed in the theatre itself, from star actresses to scene shifters and attendants, and also indirectly those who live by supplying costumes, furnishings, scenery, instruments and refreshments to performers and theatre-goers. The profession of the novelists and playwrights is completely killed for a time. The greatest novelists of England are either unoccupied or, like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, joining the Army, or, like Miss Sinclair, learning to nurse. Publishers have promptly closed down, annulled many contracts that were not completed, and postponed indefinitely some already concluded. This, again, affects booksellers, agents, typists, and tho numerous tribe of middlemen who live upon the authors' productions. Pictures are rarely bought, and painters no longer get commissions. All these classes are threatened with ruin unless they can take up some otliGr occupation. For those who are artists or authors alone there is nothing : -\'erpt unskilled labour, starvation cr suicide. In the case of the most successful, even if they have made some provision for emergencies, the prolonging of the war will bring a change from opulence to penury. But in the artistic and musical and literary world the great mass are mere strugglers, who in time of peace just manage to exist by their art or profession, and numbers of these must speedily go under and become part of. the submerged mass of the great cities. These are tho victims of whom official statistics Will keen no record.