Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-08-27
DANGERS OF AN ECONOMIC WAR

OF Canada q sum automatically reduced
to f41 100000. count being maintained
of the annual interest on f150. 900 900
due in Great Britain. The United States
advanced to Canada In important sums
for military expenses about f142,O00.-
600, when the preceding year Wall
street loaned Canada but f50.0o0. 900.
That financial dependence on New
York will only permit Canada to treat
with the United States on the basis OF
1t is not possible that there could be an
economical conflict between Canada and
the United States. The governments of
the Dominion as well as Australia are
making great efforts to transform their
raw material in their own factories
rather than send them to the United
Kingdom, Likewise. New Zealand pro-
poses to utilize its cascades and fall
ing waters in connection With the
products of Australia. II this policy
should prevail IN the British possess
sions 1t may be asked IL II does not
make OF the famous imperial reci-
procity" a fiction? The dominions are
thus revealed as manufacturers and
threshold of the economic war.
Tho morning after the war. II the
protective tariffs are definitely sane
toned. the Franco-Br1-
Alliance Is fannie entente would be
~, definitely shattered Al
menaceo. ready NJ. David-Mennet.
president of the chamber Of commerce
of Paris. declared to the senatorial
commission OF economical organiza-
ton:
I'VE will encounter great difhculties,
notably In the agreement with the Eng
lish and the Russians. French indus
tries consist in fine products. which
these powers propose to tax heavily, to
the injury of French interests. We
cannot do else than attack their prod
ucts in self-protection.
A real eoroliary of the entente cor
dale may be Franco Britannia
treaty of commerce established on the
basis of mutual concessions: England
renouncing the supplementary taxes
established on wines and spirits, re-
ducing fiscal taxes imposed on fruits
and other products. and In exchange
France diminishing certain tariffs and
suppressing others weighing heavily
on merchandise transported to Eng
lish ports.
Perhaps. concludes NJ Hoschiller. IL
may be possible to simplify the plan of
the economic war by renouncin1
..protectionism of four degrees" in
adopting simply a system of prohibition
of Austro-German products or in com
batting Germanic expansion by means
of tariffs of reprisal. NJ. Hoschilier
cites M Boublikoff, member OF the
duma, a noted financial specialist III
las desirable as the commercial boy
cottage of Germany may be after la.
war, one should not lose sight Of Rus
sia's difficult situation. Why has Rus
STA bought so much of Germany? Man
ifestly because the price was cheape.
than in England or in France. Ii Is
evident, therefore, that the cessation Oh
commercial relations with Germany Is
equivalent. to Russian consumers. to a
rise in the cost of living and an aggra-
walton Of the conditions Of credit"
Could Russia support such conditions7
Our delegates to the economic con-
ference of the allies
German should then seek the
merchandise elsewhere
1rooucts. than in Germany at
terms as advantageous as in Germany.
Germany will continue to offer her
merchandise after the war, IL only be-
cause of her geographical situation. In
conserving to combat Germany. We
should claim from the allies the as
tected and that the combat against
Germany will not be at the price OF
our own Impeachment
Now here is a subject that must
namely. the question of made in Ger
many" M. Titon. the director Of the
Gazette Financiere of Petrograd. In
fiuential member Of the duma. says.
In spite of our conflict. badly man
aged. against tie made in Germany"
tvuyit Icfo he 81 NJ
Germanic establishments uittle skillful
and advantageous), it is necessary to
admit that the roots have remained, the
ancient traditions are still alive and
the business relations with Germany
have only been suspended. Germany.
it is no secret, has studied well the
Russian situation and continues to at
tentively observe the notifications of
Russian industry. Besides. if the ali
mentary products which we export for
hundreds of millions of roubles do not
find other markets. they will retake
the well known road to Germany, and
the simultaneous depreciation of the
value of the rouble and the mark will
favor the re-establishment of former
economic relations, as little desirabl
as that may be from a political point
of view"
This is rude lesson, according to NJ
Hoschiller. "A lesson for all those who
believe they may conquer an interna-
tional market without any effort, and
that it suffices to agree to boycott IA
country or to strike it down with pro-
hibitive tariffs. to arrest its economical
expansion. One struggles for quality
for cheapness. One does not buy To
please this one or that one; commercial!
exchanges follow the needs and possi-
bilities of peoples"
There is a limit in trade to cheapness
at the expense of quality, and the
things made in Ger
Limit to many" while cheap
Cheapness. Because cbean Ger.
many monopolized the markets of the
world. Even the articles de Paris"
were abandoned to Germany. Aniline
dyes, which were invented by the Lyon
chemist Verguin, were abandoned for
more alluring grand chemical indus
tries
NJ HoschiIler has furnished us many
interesting sides of the economic war.
after the war, plans for which are being
discussed. NJ HoschiIIer has confined his
attention chiefly to the past and present
After the war. however. he must agree.
the conditions will have changed radically
and become new. The very fact he has
noted that the Dominion, as well as Aus
tralia and New Zealand, ARE transform
ing their raw material in their own fac
tories" is proof that these countries are