The Daily News. FRIDAY, JULY 25, 1919. GERMANY'S BURDEN.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 July 1919, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, JULY 25, 1919. GERMANY'S BURDEN.

W+ien Herr Harden, in March, 1918, expounded Germany's creed as '' The weak are the prey of the strong," he little thought how soon his country would be numbered among the weak, but we have only to contrast Germany's position to-day with what it was in 1914 to realise how weak she is to bear the burden imposed on her by the Allies—a burden unprecedented in history, and one, moreover, that will compel her to devote all her energies and resources to the activities of peace, instead of preparing for another war, Speaking at the Buda Pest Economical Conference in June, 1917, lierr Dernberg said: "The German Empires have used up their natural resources to a greater extent than the Allies. . . . There is no doubt that there will be an immense world-wide demand for raw material." According to Herr Zimmermann the most serious German deficiencies are in topper, cotton and animal fat. Germany depends on the British Empire for'wool, and the United States and the British Empire, have, practically, the world monopoly of cotton. No German annexation of Belgium, Herr Zirnmermann asserted, would compensate Germany for the want of raw materia!,, since she cannot build up her whole industry on coal and iron. On another occasion he said: "We must have a great consolidated colonial empire that can send us 40,000 tons of palm oil immediately after the war," palm oil being one of the principal sources of all modern high explosives. Germany, however, finds herself now cut off from her former resources. Alsace and Lorraine have passed to prance, and her colonial possessions have been confiscated. She has, to use Herr Harden's words, "become the prey of the strong." Paced with enormous war debts and indemnities, the Germans are now to experience the punishment for their crimes, more particularly the super crime of waging the most unjust war on record—a war between Odin and Christ. There need be no illusion as to Germany's financial condition; it is appalling. The reckless gamble on which the Germans embarked precluded the possibility of keeping the expenditure within bounds, nor were they concerned on this head, inasmuch as they were confident of their ability to make the Allies pay. Herr Erzberger has admitted tliat the war expenditure amounted to about £8,000,000,000, and that the Government needed nine hundred and fifty millions sterling to pay for interest on the national debt in the first year after the close of the war. It is probable that these figures are much below the estimate, but when the sums for food, cost of the Allies' occupation, and the millions for reparation and indemnities are added the figures are so tremendous that they almost bewilder the outside world. It seems probable that before Germany commences to pay the cost of government she must find over a thousand million sterling for interest on her own debt and for reparation. Apparently her own debt will have to remain an indefinite liability, for she must concentrate on providing the means for meeting her obligations to her conquerors. Thanks to the peace terms, Germany will not have to meet the huge naval and military budgets of former years, but she has lost millions of workers and a considerable portion of her resources, while her trade must be rebuilt under a heavy* handicap. At the same time it may be assumed that her organising powers, which had attained such marvellous efficiency before and during the war, are still available, and there is no doubt every effort will be made to recover her industrial and commercial status, j though the process is likely to be slow owing to the detestation in which the Germans are held—how i deeply rooted is that detestation they have still to learn by an experience that will be painful and mortifying. Moreover, during the I ,w&r those who were formerly, de- J

pendent on German manufactures were compelled to turn their attention to building up industries to supply these goods, and thus become independent of Germany. Never again will any of the Allied nations get into the commercial and industrial toils of Germany, hence the burden our ruthless enemy will have to bear as best she can. That taxation in Germany will be phenomenal lis a certainty, and there is no doubt that the swashbuckling junkers and others of the wealthy class will be made to feel the weight of this gigantic burden. How the task will be accomplished it is impossible to conjecture, but we know only too well that we must expect much slimness and trickery that must be met with firm counter measures. The world will have to take the Germans as they were described by Herr Dernberg when he said "Our lies are coarse and improbable; our intrigues are without salt, and without grace." Already the tide of German penetration lias started to flow, and it will be more than ever necessary to exercise unceasing vigilance on the emissaries of a nation which did not see why her enemies "should not bleed until they were black.'' Fortunately for Germany the Allies are not actuated by such a barbaric desire. The terras they have imposed on Germany are not, as were the terms imposed by Prussia on France in 1871, intended to crush the nation, but they, nevertheless, constitute a burden that will weigh heavily, and necessitate hard work and much sacrifice on all classes ere the load can be lightened. They will at the same time learn the great lesson that war does not pay. Heavy as is Germany's task, it is within her power to discharge and permit of a gradual growth in strength—not in the arts of war, but in those of peace. , '