HUGE PROFITS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 September 1941, Page 5

HUGE PROFITS

GATHERED IN BY GERMAN GROUPS EXPLOITATION OF OCCUPIED EUROPE. DEARTH ON THE EASTERN FRONT. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, September 17. Hitler’s “new order,” while turning all ol’ occupied Eur- ■ ope into a vast production arsenal for German needs, has become very pleasantly profitable for the German kings of industry and finance. Competition is being eliminated all over Europe and a “juicy monopoly,” to cite an economic expert, is falling into the hands of a few groups. While these groups, such as the great German chemical industry, I. G. Farben, have undoubtedly Nazi sympathies, the working of the new order has given them vested interests in Hitler’s autocratic system of running Europe. Huge profits are being made in the ersatz industries, and clearly a return to normal production after the war will put such groups as I. G. Farben largely out of business. A message to Zurich from Rome states that clothing, shoes, leather and metal goods have been placed under official control. Tinned goods have been rationed till the end of the month. The “Frankfurter Zeitung,” in a remarkable article, states that while the German troops in France, Norway and on other fronts are able to support themselves through confiscation, this is impossible in the east. Hundreds of goods trains on recent days have had to take to the Eastern Front woollen blankets, straw, sleepings bags, transportable ovens, and lamps. Millions of so-called “Hindenburg candles” must be manufactured, as normal candles are unobtainable. This newspaper says that German experts, at the request of Finland, investigated the possibility of reopening the cellulose works at Kakisalmi, on the Karelian Isthmus, which were the greatest in Finland, but found it impossible before the end of 1943 owing to the Russian destruction being so complete.