Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1918-05-31

servient to it, must be overthrow and the world 8
commerce freed from serious dangers. If this is
to be effected the whole German idea of trading
must be modified
Economic penetration" has long been recog-
nfzed In Germany as one of the most important
functions of the state. The highest in the empire,
kings, princes. mobiles and hereditary land mag
mates, have We'd In showing their interest in all in
dustrial and commercial enterprises of magnitude
and in promoting in every way possible to them the
expansion Of German trade, while chancellors cab
met officers and members of parliament have prac-
tcally been at the beck and call of corporations
and individuals embarking undertakings
on large scale. The state in many lines has be-
come the partner of leading promoters and in cases
where capital Is risked in enterprises, which If
successful must rebound to the benefit of the
pire, that capital is practically guaranteed against
loss. Should the enterprise itself be revealed as
practicable, but be jeopardized by incompetency or
dishonesty, the state will find way to step In, to
protect the outside investor and to the enter
prise to success. Differently from what occurs in
certain more democratic countries, the German
state does not stand aloof from trade and indus
try, does not eye "big business" with cold suspi-
cion, or permit the legislative bodies to modest it
with multitude of pnpricking laws. The kaiser
poses as the friend and associate of great NUM-
lions manufacturers, visits with Westphalian coal
barons presides at the launching of steamships
owned by private corporations and lends the
enlargement of his presence to the cutting of
canals, or the making of automobiles, shoes,
carpets, by private enterprise. The whole attitude
of the state toward trade is different in Germany.
BY instinct, it is possible that the kaiser, the
princes, the counts and the barons of Germany
have as little desire to come in contact with the
ordinary mortalS who Sin trade" as certain IT,
tied Brtons have, but in Germany duty to the state
overcomes the repugnance. The one supreme duty
of all is to promote the military might of the state
for in this way alone Germany's greatness be
assured.
But military power in these times is dependen
on economic power. The nation with the most
money win wars is the crude commercial way
In which the ideu has been phrased in other coun-
tries Germany has different notions, but admits
the hard fact that trade and militarism inter-
related. And the warfare of today has called
FOR new methods the battlefield. it also de-
nands new forms of aid from commerce. Through
rade and commerce the armed forces of the nation
AN deliver some of their most telling blows Since
n the present hour, whether one likes it or not.
he fact Is established that the army is more than
,ver dependent on commerce. the army must now
work for trade and trade must work for the army.
This reasoning was furnished as the fundamental
ustifying motive for the law civil CONSUMPTION
n Germany, and the German government. If it
ndures, is expected to push the principle vigor-
usly after the as it does now. Even if Ger
many lost the war; it is affirmed, she can count on
riumphng ultimately through her trade methods
How vigorously Germany is working on this prin-
iple is best realized from the fact that since the
egnning of the war, and to a greatly increased
xtent in the past year, the German government
as effected combinations between leading
and commercial concerns in Ger
lany engaged in foreign business and is using the
overnment resources in the combinations. The
acts IN this regard, known from other sources, are
onfirmed by the complaints of the smaller Ger
ian concerns left out of the combination and de-
rived, not merely of all financial and commercial
but also of all knowledge of the bust
ess operations in which the government and big
lsiness are engaged. 1t is this apparently estab-
shed fact of the union of the government with
lie most important of the German firms transact
G business abroad which is the basis for much of
lie concern manifested in the countries of the al
IS regarding the German method of handling
ade and commerce and the future evils which it
recasts.