Evening star., 1917-12-09
Germnanys Part Central European Economic Alliances
By CHARLES M. PEPPER.

THE economic background of the
great war. it affects the Eu-
III ropean belligerents. comes out
S strongly in the report of con-
ference which the cable dispatches de-
scribed as of far.reachinG Importance
,:he news came from Cologne on the
.:bine. by way of Amsterdam, although
the conference was in progress at
s{Iambu-r.
Cologne is one of the German cities
m the center of a vast industrial dis
-trict. and is deeply interested in any
projects relating TO trade and industry
The Cologne newspaper which gave
publicity to the conference said that
so important were the projects under
discussion that in the national inter
est il was desirable nor to disclose
more than the bare outlines. Had the
German censors not been very nusS
with seeing that only the bare outlines
Of military operations on the western
front should be disclosed IL is possible
that the Cologne newspaper would not
have been permitted even 10 hentloi
the economic conference al Hamou:s-
. Ru, in spit OF system and science ap-
pIied to the censorship. something oc-
casionaIly slips by even German cen
sor and the world gets Ittle hen" 's.
or what is going on cut side OF mir
tary operations.
The conference at Hamburg. accord
ing TO the Cologne version. was COM
rosed of German. Austrian and Hun
sarian economic associations. 1t was
NO. ofncial in the sense that confer
ences between the German and TN"
Austrian kaisers or the premiers o.
Germany ard the dual empire are OFF,
cial. yet since in the countries of the
central powers the chambers OF COM
.nence and similar associations are
nart of the government. the econoIiie
.ssoctations represented at HAMBURG
deere official associations II would not
s,atter what their official status was
A:nce their deiiberations wouid ,see oe
S,endent action or independent thtnk-
ang which might 30 contrary TO gov
crnment policy is not possibie IN Ger
many or Austria Hungary at the
present time.
Osteusibly the purpose of the Ham
hurg economic conference is de-
feusiye-that IL. ut is alleged to be ne
cessary because of the responsiveness
of the entente powers. The people OF
Germany and Austria-ffungar- are to
he made TO believe that they must let
,he governments mold their economic
nolicjeS in order To prevent the hostile
powers from annihilating them indus
triafly II is the same line of reason
ing that the German military autoc-
racy sought to impose on tho German
neopIe in making them believe that
they were defending the fatherland
against the attacks of England and
, France.
Unfortunately TO- the cause of peace
the entente allies gave grounds FOR
this asssimntiou- Tho Paris confer
ence. held in the midsummer OF 1915.
formulated scheme of economic a'h-
ances which. if it could be carried out.
undoubtedly would mean the ecoroInic
destruction of the central powers. Sore
of the measures approved bv that con-
ference were essential to the success
full carrying on of the war Others
which were declared to be of a trans =
foTy character. will be essential if Eel
gium and France are to be restored
ipdustrially from the ravages which
Germany has inflicted.
These measures undoubtedly Will
have the support OF public opinion IN
the United States vhnneyer peace ne
GotiationS are reached. ard il becomes
industrial desolation which Germany
has wrought upon the world. But
others of the measures proposed which
were described as of permanent char
acter. were SO sweeping that IL they
could be made effective new eco
nomic autocraey would be established
in place of the military world autoc-
racy which Germany sought to estaD-
list IT wss these measures that caused
the talk about war after the war which
was so prominent during the fall of
1918
Germany in the meantime had been
preparing her own scheme of economic
donlination under the guise of cco-
sine had been doing this quietly and
without much publicity. even in the
ccHtrsl powers themselves. Cons :
/ auentiy. she was ale TO take adTaa-