Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 1911. GERMANS AND INDUSTRY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10263, 15 June 1911, Page 4

Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 1911. GERMANS AND INDUSTRY.

' 'Mr McGowen ', Prime Minister of New South Wales, in an interview, said that in his opinion British people ibad reason to fear the Germans on account of their industrial and commercial developments, which were the result of thirty years' liberal education."

' This was a messages wihich reached New Zealand by cable on Tuesday last. Coming as it does from the head of a Labour Government,' it as not without significance. One would • ailmost liave thought that Mr MoGowen had been reading the article written some time back by Mr T. ! Good, entitled "The Truth About the 'Gorman Working Man." "At anyrate Mr Good arrives at practically the same conclusion a& Mr. MoGowen. The least ohservant, he says, will readily admit that Germany's industrial 'progress during the last thirty years or iso lhas been substantial; but few acknowledge the difficulties that ■country ilias had to overcome— the dncesisant war she has had to wage with adverse natural and economic •circumstances—in the attainiment of her present status as a nation. To quote interminable statistical comparisons between one country and another is not sufficient, unless we take into laccount-the relative advantages and disadvantages under which the nations we are comparing labour. In contrasting Germany' with Great Britain, it is well to a-ememlber that in whatever .respect we may still find, or imagine, ouuselves ahead of the Germans, in industrial or .social affairs, we enjoyed a long start of our contemporaries in the international race, and that tkrougfaout we have possessed:, and do now possess, . a combination of favours unknown to our rivals. Thirty years ago we were '< leagues ahead of Germany in trade, in manufactures, in social legislation, and in \practically everything that makes for national prestige and nutria n happiness. To-day Germany is our most resolute rival, not ifiar behind us in anything, and already an advance of us in some respects, indeed our business men, our statesmen, and our labour leaders now go to erstwhile despised Germany for examples and lessons in industrial and isocrial organisation!* Our industrial supremacy was attained largely by virtue of national favours, and at a time when we had no formidable trade rivals. Germany has acMeved,

and is achieving, her industrial vie- . taries without the assistance of any ( such natural favours as we enjoy, and in the face of the keenest of competitors. This (point is very important. Germany, in her rapid industrial development, has enjoyed no special favours in climate, in natural resources, or in geographical situation. Starting on her career heavily handicapped, her attainments are monuments to the efficiency of her craftsmanship, the diligence of her enterprise, land 'the wisdom and patriotism of her statesmanship. A generation ago G-ermany had only two ports of any account against our , twenty or tliirty; her rivers were shallow, and her harbours mean. Her soil, for the most part, was ' poor —not nearly so fertile as ours. A third of the country was covered with forests and morasses. Her minerals were .generally of lower grade than ours, and much more inconveniently deposited. In agriculture, mining, manufacturing, trading, and shipping—and all that that implies in employment and wages— Germany has had to fight against huge odds contrasted with Great Britain. Not only had industrial Germany to asr semble her raw materials—her coal,, ore, limestone, etc.—ifrom widely separated districts ; construct a .great railway system-; widen, deepen, and canalise 3ier rivers; .carry her products, if for export, several hundreds of miles to a port 5 and dredge her harbours .to accommodate her ships; but «he had to fight her way into the world's (markets—markets whitih had long been virtually British preserves. Moreover, Germany had to bear a heavy burden of military .service and taxation. Then, again, our rivals were notoriously . poor—capital was scarce 'in Germany a generation 'back. Both in natural resources and.in finance we were immeasurably richer ■titan that country. And we had enjoyed the 'first benefits of steam power and all that that meant. Such were a few of the disadvantages under winch our rivals laboured; such were the materials but of which the Germany of to-day was to be fashioned within the space of a .single generation. If we could have been told in 1878 that in 1908 a British Cabinet Minister would visit Germany in order to study advanced labour legislation we should have laughed! In the light of these circumstances German progress is far snore remarkable than bald statistics of production, commerce, arid wealth indicate. In face of great natural, geographical; and financial not appreciated and not understood in this God-favoured 1 country— modern Germany has exploited her resources alike in .soil and minerals, developed her industries, and provided repro-. ductive employment and raising wages for a rapidly growing .population at a rate, and in a (manner, surpassed only by the vast and rich United States.