The Daily News. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1916. THE ENEMY WITHIN.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 February 1916, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1916. THE ENEMY WITHIN.

Mr. Jan D. Colvin, writing in the National Review, declares that the liermau power is unbroken in England to-day. The internment net catches the '•mall fry, but allows the big fish to escape. The German of importance in England, he declares, took care to be naturalised. He did not cease thereby to be a good subject of his Emperor, for his case was specially covered by the German Imperial and State Nationality Laws, which thoughtfully guarded against this little difficulty a year before the war began, setting out that "in order to provide for cases where a foreign nationality i» acquired solely with a view to moiling business requirements, etc., it ; .s !Vid down that a German shsil ;-.ot les- his nationality if, before acquiring a foreign nationality, ho obtains the penussio'i of the home authorities to retain lite German nationality." This is one reason why the German in business is net caught in the barbed wire of tlw concentration camps. Another reason is that lie usually trades as a member oi a company and his company is registered as an English eompany. When the war began the Chief Justice. Lord Leading, presided over a committo wliL-li settled the legal position ~f Gorm it'.s in England during the war i'i t.v.> jiid.yments which may be call?.! the Magna Charta Teutoiucorum; they enr.uro, as far as the law could ensure, that Heman commerce in Britain should weather the storm of war and resume its old happy ascendancy the moment peace is declared. Government proclamations, also, have enabled business to he done by Germany through branches in neutral countries outside Europe. The German, if he docs business in England, eiui sue for payments in our courts, receive payments from customers, and trade in every way as usual, provided he complies with the formality of registration; or. if he has a branch in the United States money may be paid into that bunch from EngUnd, and, of course,

can (lifii lie transferred to a branch, si'v. in Holland, and mi to Ge"many, In t";.?\i! liar.'.v circumstances the Herman <":;!.U in England to-day, and in some c;!«.i'v I:.' fsn form' the Englishman to tra !c with him because the German stili •"-..•-'V* ;i piacti al monopoly. The writer goc-; on to describe how the German trade lias been built up under guilds and syndicates so that every company in a given trade acts with the other companies wherever their interests are oor.cemcd. German trade is sliong in England io-day because it is protected by trade ;i nd national organisation and because neither England nor the English trade;, arc organised to fight it, because there is no trade policy and no tariff, and because in trade, in law, and in custom we had forgotten the meaning of patriotism. Finance is the master of trade and the German backing system supports German trade and manufacturer;; in A way almost unknown in the banking system of England. One German trade, say the metal trade, not only commands the entire resources of the trade as a whole, but draws for its financial support, if need be, upon the organised banking system of Germany. Thus when we bear of the power of a German firm like <yic~tons, let ns remember that we are dealing not only with a firm, but with the whole German metal trade behind that firm, and with the whole German banking system behind that trade. Mortons in London is like the mouth of the vacuum cleaner: his power of suction comes from an engine worked overseas. The aggressive energy of such a firm is supplied by an unseen and hostile power working at a distance; at the back of it is the Kaiser, who sits entlroned in the innermost recesses of the great German war metal eompaay, of which Merton is only one of the suckers. And if Morton is traced downwards it is found that it has influence in companies with British names. The names of numerous British firms in .Which Merton directors hold shares are quoted to show that British organisation has not been strong enough to resist tha German bacillus. The writer quotes Mr. Hughes, the late Prime Minister of Australia, in his exposure of the German metal trust, as showing that it is impossible in England to buy lead except through Mortons in London. A haprjy reflection, that every bullet we shoot at a German puts money in a German pocket! Then, again, the persons who control the. zinc, and copper trades —who decide how much Australia shall produce—are German companies. "Let the British public reflect well on these points.'' says the writer. "The metals'with which they are fighting the Germans—lead, spelter, metal, and at least some of the copper and iron ore—are largely bought from German firms. Sixty per cent, of the profits of Merton? —and they must run into millions—will gn directly into the pockets of (Jermnn shareholders. The German, in fact, is like the w«n at the fair who lets you have three shies at him for a penny, with this difference, that the German has his shy back at us for nothing. Reference is made to that great and formidable organisation, the Allgemeine Kleetritats Gosollschaft of Berlin, universally known as the "A.E-.C!.," with a capital of 155 million marks, reserve funds of 9(5 millions, and employing over 70,0,00 hands in 1014. These figures are imposing, but they leave out of account all the companies in which the A.E.fl. I has a controlling interest, fixing prices and limiting production. The writer shows that it has almost complete control in Switzerland, and that when it came in contact with the General Electric Company of Xc.w York these two concerns deoided that it was better to go shares than to fight, so they divided the world between them on happy copartnership lines. England being neutral territory, the New York company took a parental interest in a big Britisli company at Rugby, whilst another leading company has German shareholders who draw from it £.,,1,000 a year in dividends. It is shown that by their connections and influence the Germans are still able to say how much we are to pay for ele;'(ric lamps, and they are still putting, or going to put, our money into their pockets. The. A.E.G. has taken the most elaborate precautions to cover up its tracks in England. Here we have two vast enemy organisations, and there are others hardly less strong which might he mentioned. They are protected by law They nre so strung that even when we are in deadly war with their country of their home and origin, thev can batten on our trade and confirm their monopolies. Will Englishmen tolerate thin position? They must organise, they must buy and sell not as traders merely, but as Englishmen. Here indeed is a fight worth fighting—the economic independence of our country."