SECRET GERMAN STORE.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 April 1916, Page 8

SECRET GERMAN STORE.

IN THE UNITED STATES. £•20,000,000 DEALS BY HUN AGENTS. It would seem that we need to lay very much, to heart the warnings of those who tell 113 that Germany is j waiting only for the end of the war to dump anywhere and everywhere in the world—especially in the British' Empire —the products that she is preparing against the day "when the war drum throbs no longer." According to a British press correspondent in New York, purchases.amounting to £20,000,000 arc reported to have been made by German agents in the United States! These purchases consist of copper, cotton, wool, lard, wheat, agricultural machinery and so on. All have been bouglit subject to delivery in Germany "sixty days after the war ends," or "on order," with the exception of wheat. It also is significant of the feverish haste with which Germany intends to attempt the repair of the ravages wrought in her industrial' system by the war that all her purchases in America are being stored close to Atlantic ports, where many German merchantmen are interned. Of course, the moment peace is signed, these vessels will be released, to speed with their valuable cargoes to the marts and industrial centres of the Fatherland without the loss of an hour. Then, unless we have legislated in time and wisely, we shall be helping the Huns to restore their country, as we helped them to build up the military machine, primarily directed against us. THE COMMERCIAL WAR. We have been told, too, that the Central Powers fear the trade war—or commercial boycott—that may follow the war of armies in the _ field more than they do the chances of'the military situation, desperate though it is for them. In fact, it has been suggested in authoritative sources that if Berlin had reason to believe that the Allies had determined on such a boycott of Teutonic trade the Kaiser thereby would be brought to see the necessity for peace sooner than by any other method, for Germany lives by commerce. By her commerce shb -.vas enabled to pay for her enormous armies, to construct a navy that she fondly hoped one day would be a menace to British sea-power. Destroy the commercial power of Germany, and her power for evil is destroyed too.. Che following definte informatioo as to the activities of the Hun purchasing agent in the United States has been sent to London; Copper.—Approximately 50,000,0001b, largely of electrolytic copper, bought on a 4. per cent, margin (that is, the diffeernce. between the cost of an article and its 1 selling price), with an agreement to keep this margin under the market price, The price paid ranges from 9d to fl'/ a d. Cotton.—3oo,ooo hales said to have been bought. Buying operations have extended ovei several months. Wool. —Estimates vary as to the amount stored, but agree that the.operations are not so large as in the cotton market. ■. Lard.—Purchases now being made openly. Wheat—lt is believed that millions j d ! bushels hove been bought, in addi-tion-to large quantities of maize. • Farm Machinery.—ln addition to tractor engines, every kind of machinery for use on farms and in factories is stored on the eastern seaboard. In this connection, according to one report, an order for small tractor engines built for farm work has actually been delivered on board a steamer at Newport News. Most of the products have been bought on a margin which would involve large bank loans. German bankers are describing these purchases as designed to establish a "preparedness for peace." For this avowal we owe them our thanks. What we need is a policy of "preparedness for German preparedness."