The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1871-08-13
Tho Effects of the Late War on Germany.

Speaking lately to German gentleman,
an inhabitant of Mayence, we were some-
what surprised by his positive assurance
that the enormous war fine imposed upon
Fran go would go but short way IN lndem-
nifyipg the Germans for their losses
through the late war. The five milliards
would not, he asserted, do more than cover
the actual war expenditure of Germany,
leaving nothing to compensate for the
heavy losses of trade and commerce and
agriculture, or for the ruin brought upon
thousands of families by the abstraction OF
fathers and sors from business, by the
casualties of war among the troops, or for
the maintenance of thousands of widows
and orphans. It appears he was not
speaking without ample grounds for the
justification of his remarks. The German
victory has been dearly bought. A Ger
man paper has published statistics upon
this subject, from which it appears that
five milliards more would not recoup the
the Germans for the losses they have sus-
tanned through the war with France. They
have, it seems, restored the German Empire,
consolidated Vaterland. and raised the
King of Prussia to an Imperial Throne, at
tremendously heavy price. The losses
of France, have, of course, been, vastly
heavier, for in one form or another the
Germans will ease her of near three hun
dred millions sterling, to say nothing Of
her own expenses and losses in trade, COM
merce, and agriculture, and in men and
materiel. But France, as shown by the re-
cent subscription to the State loan, is a
very rich country, and Germany is poor,
and five years of Imperial rule would re-
move almost every trace of the losses sus-
tanned by France in the war, whereas, ow-
ing to the paucity of their industrial re-
sources. the nature Of their soil, and the
| character of their climate, fve-and-twenty
years of peace will hardly suffice to REIN
state the Germans in the position as re-
CARDS domestic comforts which they occu-
| MED this day twelve months. A German
paper. referring to the calamitous effects of
| the late war upon Germany. says that "the
war has not only interrupted work, but has
destroyed thousands of places of work.
| The four million thalers to be devoted to
the assistance of those who have suffered
loss are but a drop of water, which falling
upon hot stone is received Missing and
evaporates in steam. thousands OF men
of the Reserve and Landwehr have return
ed home or will return crowned with vic
tory and wreaths to find their dwellings
destitute, their wives in want, their chill
dren in rags, their workshops destroyed,
their Gu toners dispersed, their credit
shaken, and the demand for their produc'
tons seriously lessened. Their rents, &C
cumulatipg for a year, are unpaid, new
tools are to be bought to replace those dis
posed of in their absence by their wives tt
> supply the wants of nature, the bills o
, bakers and butchers and other retailer
! are to be met, aud fresh debts must b
l contracted in order to obtain the raw ma
terial for handicraft and other lndustrla
pursuits. The German triumph is, conse
auently, far from beng heavily unalloyed
. and as France has suffered more, it woul
: he hard to measure the net losses of til
. two belligerents."-London Register.