The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-06

f3 turbance caused y the outbreak AszseNzsj of the great European war
 IS settling down and Ensland $
 beginning to take breath again it is evil dent that the defeat of German means
 the beginning of the greatest era of
 prosperity in the history of the United
 Kingdom. Incidentally it should also
 bring lot of grist to the mills of the l United States.
 1 It would be idle now to conceal the fact that something like a commercial and financial panic took place in England in the first days of the war. The fi- nancial situation was nanE>sd in a mas terly fashion by the government which closed the banks for four days. decreed moratorium for month, and issued . plentiful supply of paper money fully guaranteed by the whole credit of the British empire. By the time the panNs | reopened people had recovered their bal ance and now the commercial men or England have weighed up the prospects and to say that they are satisfied Is to put it very mildly indeed.
 Of course all this is contingent on the defeat of Germany. but no one 'n Flu rope outside of Germany and Austria pe- lleves for a moment that Germany will be able to prevail against a practically united Europe.
 To begin with, let us consider the sit uation at present Germany was about the best customer England had. Sno took in 1912, s210 000.000 worth, ip round figures, of goods from England. XII that trade is now stopped and whatever the result of the war must be regarded as gone forever. Austria was a good GUS toner and her trade also is lost. Trade with England's allies Tn Europe nas been hanpered, of course, by she disorganiza- ton consequent on the outbreak of war and the withdrawal of the greater part of the producing and consuming popu1a- tion of these countries from industry to the colors. For the first week or so all trade with the continent and even across the Atlantic was at a standstili because of the danger of capture by the German fleet and by the fast merchant ships which she had armed and commits stoned as commerce destroyers. The Brit ish navy has now, however, bottled up the fleet securely, and practically swept the commerce destroyers off the seas. and except to Germany and Austria trade is now going on under almost normal conditions. Even the North. sea- the home
 
 she sowed with mines in the first days of the war, is almost as safe as ever and ships are passing and repassng con stantly between English and Svandina- yian and Russian ports. The Straits of Dover are a carefully guarded English highway and trade with France, Belgium and Holland is proceeding without inter ruption. Now on what do the English mercantile men base their expectation Of enormous profit from the war? In a word, the reply is Germany's export trade That amounted in 1912 to roughly $2, 250, 000,000 and England expects to gain far more of it than the $210, 0o0 worth of trade with Germany that she has lost. Her only serious competitor will be the United States.
 Let us now consider what Germanys situation will be after the war. Make no mistake about it. if Europe wins Ger many as great power will cease to exist. She has dominated Europe for the last quarter of a century and she has earned the whole-hearted hatred of Flu rope in way which even Napoleon never did. "Delenda est Germania' is the mot to under which Europe is fighting, and Germany will be destroyed if the allies have it in their power to destroy her. She will have no fleet, and a fleet is an absolute necessity for oversea com
  she will be burdened with war indemni- ty which will make that imposed by her on France after 1870 seem mere flea bite. Her peoples savings will be gone and she will be without capital or credit for recovery and future development Her mercantile marine is rapidly being swept off the sea- Every day come reports oi the capture of dozens Of German ships by the fleets of the allies. Russia alone collected over~90 German vessels in the Black sea in one day. The Mediterranean ports of France are full ,f German prizes and the ports of England are rapidly be- coming congested with captured German ships
 For the last 20 years Germany has been 1 forging to the front as the chief com petitor of England and the United States | in the markets of South America and the | far east. She has been rngland's great 1 est competitor in the American market | and she has even flooded England witt. | certain classes of goods. such as cheap 1 cutlery, chemicals electrical goods and | certain textiles, which she could make | cheaper than they could be made in Eng | land. The following figures taken from l the official reports of Germany's export | trade in 1912 will show what vast busi- 1 ness there is to be diveded up between l England and the United States. It may be well to explain here that France does | not enter into competition in most of the lines in which Germany excelled and | Russia is an importing country which ! traded largely with Germany but which will do so no longer. The amounts of l Germanys exports to the various coun- | tries are given in dollars calculated in | round figures from the German marks: Russia .l...................... .$190 000, ,O3O 1 Belgium 124, GOO 900 | United Kingdom Great Britain S00,0Oo, O00 | France .................... 172 GOO GOO Turkey .......................... 30,000, 00O l Japan ........................... 30,000,O QUO | ......................... 2,0U0,v0e British North America .......... 14,000 GOO United States ..................... 4,000 00O Mexico .....,.................... uOOO OD0