THE WEALTH OF GERMANY.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 October 1922, Page 12

THE WEALTH OF GERMANY.

A VISITOR’S IMPRESSIONS. A “Student of German Conditions” writing in the London “Daily Mail." maintains that Germany, far from being poor, is one of the richest countries in the world. National wealth does not consist of money, which by itself is worth nothing, he writes, but of tangible property and goods, and it is increased; by production. Germany is far wealthier than France. All North Germany is a level plain, very fruitful and easily cultivable, and it is opened up by a unique system of gently flowing, deep rivers, which can easily be connected, while France has little level ground and only turbulent or small rivers. The principal wealth of nations is created nowadays in factories. Modern industry depends upon coal. Germany has lost a. good deal of coal -by the peace, but in the Ruhr Valley alone she has about 200,000,000,000 tons of coa l—l2 times as much as all France and considerably more than the United Kingdom. For international commerce Germany has the best position in the centre of Europe. Last, but not least, she has more than 60,000,000 inhabitants, while France has. less than 40,000,000. Owing to her superiority in natural resources of every kind, in man power and therefore in production, Germany is undoubtedly twice as rich as France. Germany’s industries ate extraordinarily prosperous, but their prosperity is disguised as far as possible, as the following example shows. The gross profits of a leading German chemical company, the Badische Anilin-und-Soda-Fabrik, increased tenfold between 1916 and 1921 and net profits eightfold. Although gigantic sums were written off and hidden in other ways, dividends equivalent to 220 per cent on the capital of 1916 were paid. To disguise that fact, the capital of the company was increased nearly eightfold, ana the shareholders, besides receiving 220 per cent in cash, o-ot huge dividends in shares allotted to them far below the market price. Similar conditions prevail almost everywhere. Germany has become the company promoter’s paradise. During the first quarter of 1913 new issues came to 123,900.000 marks. During the first quarter of 1922 new issues came to 100 times as much. We are told that Germany ft* crushed by taxation, that German income tax is the. highest in the world. Unfortunately the high nominal rates do not yield corresponding revenue, because people refuse to pay. Those who defraud the revenue are lightly punished, or not punished at all, and their names kjl *» Qml Britos