The New York herald., 1921-10-17
GERMANY MAY Open
PRICE SLASH|NG WAR
Industry Will Give Up Trying
to Fulfil Treaty Terms if
Silesia Is Taken Away.
CAN UNDERSELL WORLD
Proposed Billion Dollar Credits
With Guarantees, Final Eff
fort to Meet War Claims.
CAN UNDERsELL WORLD
BY RAYMOND SWING.

BY RAYMOND SWING.
Special Gable to THE New Yonx HERALD.
Copyright, 1921, by THE NEw YoRK HnnALp
New York Herald Bureau,
Berlin. Oct. 10. !
Germany stands before the parting
of the ways. Either she will attempt
to build up her finances to meet the
reparations payments in sound man
ncr along the lines Of the proposed
foreign loan on the security Of the
nations entire production. or she may
launch the greatest price-cutting war
in the history of the world. The key
to the situation lies in Upper Silesia.
and prominent industrial leaders ar.
saying to-day that If German indus
try is weakened by the Silesian YER
dict they will renounce all further ef-
forts to o.play the game.
"It will no longer be up to US" one
of the most prominent industrial lead
ers told THE NEW YoRK HERALD corre-
spondent. 1--WE have undertaken to
redeem our pledges. Deprive US OF
our zinc and coal and there is nothing
left but to give up. What will the
world think IL we introduce ten
hour day? In the main we have COW
cred our needs in raw materials for
six months. Our food supply is COW
cred until next May, and the price
of bread has been fixed by law on u
value of less than fifty marks to the
dollar. with the dollar at 140 marks
and ten hour day we can undersell
every market in the world.
Few JObIcss In Germany.
Take Upper Silesia and let the dol
lar go to 200 marks. Then you can
imagine what will happen. Protective
tariffs cannot exclude goods produced
in Germany at one-third of the cost
elsewhere. All that formerly hindered
us from going back to the ten hour
day was unemployment and the re-
fusal Of the unions to permit overtime
work while. some Of their members
were idle. On October l we had only
246. 900 unemployed To-day the num-
Der is perhaps 100000. Hardly any OF
these are skilled workers. so now the
working man has mo ground for re-
fusing to do overtime.
\ Industry Is willing TO pay good
bonus for extra hours and the worker
can get possibly 40 per cent more wages,
which he is hardly likely to refuse.
And then you have your spectacle OF
100000 unemployed in America.
1000, 900 In England, and Germany with
out unemployment working overtime.
Isn't 1t mad world?"
One of tho factories owned by the
speaker Is working three hours over
time. The large Leuna works near Halle
have just gone over to fifty-hve hour
week. and the tendency 60 accept over
time Is already noticed in all parts of
Germany.
Until the present." the industrial
leader continued. tour leading manufac-
turers stood for the saving of the mark.
Now they have mostly gone over to the
other side and want the mark TO fall. II
certainly means a catastrophe, but 1t is
not our catastrophe alone"
Industry to Ne Guaranty.
An alternative 10 tniS policy ~ TC-
garded by practically all responsible
economic leaders to be an International
credit which would free the German
Government from the necessity of buy
Ing foreign exchange In the open market
10 meet the reparstions payments. The
plans for doing this by offering German
industry as guaranty for the foreign
loans have already been outlined In these
dispatches. They are now being whipped
into final form and II Is certain that
both the programme for foreign and
domestic loans. with n law MAILING
membership in a new credit society com
pulsory for all producers. viii have a
big majority In the National Economic
Parliament.
The measure probably will be adopted
by this body next week, whence II viii
go TO the Rcichstae.
Since the entire burden OF this meas
uro is to fall upon industry. agriculture
and property owners. II will not meet
With any opposition from labor and
since II Is being promulgated in the
National Economic Parliament by the
producers themselves, it will not be
opposed In the Rclchstag by the parties
OF the Right
The plan proposes the raising OF for
eign credits to the extent OF 81 200. o0O,-
900 not only in America but in all Euro
peen countries. The interest and amor.
tization OF the credits are TO be borne
by compulsory credit society sane
toned by law. to which will belong all
manufacturers, bankers. farmers. mer-
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