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Taranaki Daily News, 27 September 1915, Page 4

THE GERMAN CORMORANTS. L'Humanite, the French paper, recently published the full text of a long and con. fidential memorandum addressed to the German Chancellor by six agrarian and industrial associations, preceding a rather similar manifesto by a body of Professors. Tile associations represent among them all the more powerful capitalistic interests of Germany. They protest against any premature and indecisive peace, arc alarmed by rumors, current during May, of a® attempt to conclude a separate peace with Great Britain, and point out that if the war so ends as to increase taxation, the internal peace of the country will be endangered.. They ask, therefore, for such a military and economic weakening of the enemy as will assure peace for a long time. They want a big colonial empire, tariff advantages j a big indemnity, and , conquests on the Russian frontier But 'the purpose of the memorandum is to insist that the main object of the war must be the spoliation of Belgium and France. The whole of Belgium must be annexed, and all the North of France, including the Pas de Calais, the Department of tiie North, the Briey district, Verdun and Belfort. The arguments for these annexations are bluntly stated. Those capitalist organisations are resolved to acquire the coal and iron fields of Belgium and France. The riches of these fields are described, the poverty of German resources touched upon, and a long technical argument added to explain the future importance of coal in the production of petrol and chemical materials. It is not enough, however, to annex Belgium and Northern France. Their railways, canals, mines and landed estates must all pass into the actual ownership of Germans. This must be so contrived that the indemnities to the expropriated owners shall be paid by France and not by Germany. The people of the annexed territories must be so administered that they can acquire no share whatever in the government of the German Empire. It is fair to remember that this amazing document does not reflect the views of the German Government, still less of the German masses. Cut it is an authoritative expression of the mind of the agrarians and manufacturer.?, who usually get their way in the making of tariffs and the adjustment of taxes. These scientific pirates have reflected profoundly on the problem how conquest can be made to pay, and certainly a conquest on these lines would he immensely profitable to the German middle-class.'