THE DANISH VIEWPOINT.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 August 1916, Page 8

THE DANISH VIEWPOINT.

CONDITIONS IN GERMAN?, The head of a New Plymouth business house ha? just received a letter from liis brother-in-law, who occupies an im* portant position in a manufacturing establishment "in Denmark. In the course of his letter, lie makes some interesting obsei vations regarding conditions in Denmark and Germany. He says: As far as I can judge, the British blockade is "far more effective than it was, and the effects of it are being felt more and more every day in Germany. The agreements that'- have been drawn up between England and Denmark, as to conditions on which goods are allowed to come here, have had very good results. The various trading associations do their best to stop all breaking of contracts, and anyone who has given a guarantee not to re-export goods, and tries to do so, is fined ten times the value of the goods, and is also liable to a term of imprisonment. Some firms have been fined so heavily that it has meant bankruptcy to them."'Mind ypu, I don't say nothing get» through. You can never stop smuggling when there is a chance of a fortune on a single transaction but that, of course, was to be expected. Again, there is a certain proportion of agricultural produce going to Germany, and a tremendous lot of cattle. In fact, cattle have gone to . such an extent that beef here is a luxury. It costs 2s fid a pound. We hardly get any meat now but pork. You may say, Why does the Dane do such things? His sympathies are with the Allies, and ho is only prolonging the war. That is quite right; but put yourself in the Dane's pla<;o, and think the matter over. You would prefer to sell your beef, etc., to John Bull, as you have a very friendly feeling for hiin and want him to win, but John won't buy your beef, etc., only at his own price. We has all the markets of the world to supply him, and your nextdoor neighbor (who is a very dangerous' neighbor) is willing to pay you a lot more money for the stuff than John Bull will, and, 'besides, he gives you to understand that if you don't let him have it lie will come over your fence and fetch it, and not give you anything for it, only hard blows. There you have the situation. Now what would you do? ( The Danes have said and done as follows: We can't refuse to sell to the one combatant and sell to the other. If we refuse to sell we must forbid the export altogether and sell to n8 one, but agriculture is our greatest industry, The greatest number of our people live on the land. Therefore we sell to England our butter and our eggs, etc., all that she asks for, as we always have done, no matter what the price. We keep our English connection, and the rest that England does not want we sell to Germany. That is the theory, and the practice has followed it in the great majority of cases. Some dealers may have left their English connections in 1 the lurch, but, on the whole, the Engv lisli market has got what it demanded , at a fair price, and most certainly at a price greatly under what could have been , got in Germany. It is all very well people saying the Danes should do this,, that and the other. We can see the German Zeps. sail up the Sound when we sit on our verandah, and the German patrol boats could also be seen if we had a good glass. That bully neighbor, whom I mentioned before, ■ could, if he decided to come here, do a lot of damage to the Danes before their big, powerful friend, John Bull, could come here to hilp them. Mind, I®liave no doubt the Danes would put up a good fight to begin with, but they have not got flie men, the means, nor the ammunition. It would ba Belgium over again, and therefore it is to be hoped that Denmark can keep out of it. Well, to go on further—what about the state of affairs in Germany? I have, of course, spoken with several people who have been in the country, and some say there is no scarcity of food, and some say the opposite. I notice, however, that the more well-to-do the man ia the less he has noticed the scarcity, Therefore, I draw the conclusion that the poorer classes, as usual, are suffering, and, in fact, I know they are. One hears of things which make dyour heart ache. A family came ]iere to Denmark with three young children, and the children were at once ordered into hospital, , and the doctors told the parents that ■ the children were so frightfully underi nourished that if they had stayed longer the youngest child would certainly have died, and probably all. three. The fact is that though tliey may have sufficient to eat in one sense what they get has ■ not sufficient nourishment in it, and the whole nation is being under-nourished. , What the next generation will be like I ■ don't know—a race of weaklings, per- ' haps. I know of Danish artisans who have ' been attracted by high wages and have • gone to work in Germany, but after a ■ comparatively short time have returned ■ home, complaining that they could not ' get sufficient to eat, A Danish doctor, who had been on a visit to Germany, wrote in the papers that he noticed how badly the people walked. ■ Their knees seemed to give way, olid to his surprise he himself began to have the same symp- [ tonis, but after he had been home a short time, and living on his usual food, the weakness went away again, and he , said the cause was undoubtedly lack of , nourishment. I know a man who was in Berlin some time ago, lie was having a meal in one of the largest restaurants, when I suddenly the shutters were closed, the electric light was shut off; and the guests leit sitting in the dark. lie distinctly heard the rattle of lnachine-gl-us firing outside, and after three hours the piace was opened again and the guests allowed to leave. On coming into the streets, he found they were practical!.* empty, with the exception of the firemen, who had washed or heve washing all the streets with their fire hose, It was impossible to get to know anything definite, but it was whispered that the populace had made a demonstration, asking for food, and the military had turned on (lie maxims. I have since heard from a source that is generally well informed that the Headquarters Stall have imported Turks to act as guards and police, as their own in?ii re f nseil to .lire on the women and-

children. X havo also heard that the a.rra,v ,>re getting short of food rations. Up to ■-■"ovr the soldiers have been well fed, buv now there is a difficulty in keeping up their supplies. How much is true of all the above I don't know, 'but of one thing I am sure the people are suffering, but if you ask me when the end will come 1 can't say. The vast majority of the German nation still believe that they will win. Some of them believe that the German fleet- is master of the seas, and that the English fleet has been badly beaten, and you can't make them believe otherwise. Still, there is no war enthusiasm now. "This frightful war" is the expression most 1 Germans make use of now. I hope that when the peace negotiations begin that one of the conditions will be that Germany has to hand over her fleet to Great Britain, if our boys have uot blow'n it to pieces beforehand. Now, a little about things here in Denmark, and then I -must close this long letter. Living here is very dear, There has been an increase in prices from 30 to 300 per cent. Coal is four times the price it was; meat is scarce and dear; beef is hardly to be had; potatoes are cheap. Pork we have a maximum price on, so everybody eats pork. We are getting sick of the sight of it. What next winter will be for the poor I can't imagine. Wages have increased (my own firm is paying an increase of about 12'/ s per cent.), but tie cost of living has increased more than the increase of wages will cover. Some people are making big fortunes. Trade is good, and there is no lack of money. Hotels and restaurants are, full, but it is the few who are making money, and the middle classes with fixed incomes and the working classes have to suffer. The longer tlb> war goes on the worse tilings will be, civ there are several articles of everyday sse of which the stocks are used up, and it is practically impossible to import more. Soda, for instance, is not to be had. For everything we get from England for our jvorks we have to have guarantee certificates and get export licenses, and I can tell you that business is twice as trying and wearing as is was ever before. Working people are scarce and awfully "cocky," and leave you if you . say a word to them. There is plenty of work to bo had anywhere. Xo one need be out of work who wants a job. ...