Evening star., 1922-09-10
BY MACMILLAN HARDEN,
GeFlnany's Foremost Publlcist.

| Germany's Foremost Publicist.
BY Cable to The Star.
| BERLIN. September s-Hewever
ungrateful. may be the task Of accus-
ing ones own country in a foreign
land. honesty compels the admission
| today that Germany has reached her
present condition, not through the
| malice Of her conquerors, but through
| miserably bad administration Of her
affairs and a blind policy
Almost three-hfths Of the German
people live from agriculture and they
have been better of during the last
three years than ever before in their
lives. The peasant has yielded only
! a small part Of his gold hoardings
and he finds today that his 20-mark
piece buys 5000 paper marks with
which to trade. The peasant, fur
hunger and his produce is eagerly
bought at almost any price.
In villages formerly perishing from
poverty there Is now prosperity. New
| buildings line the streets No one
| has been quicker than the thrifty
peasant to discover that today the
| American dollar Is the real German
| money standard. All prices are
quoted in dollars and this is the
first time that money ever attained
| such power outside it's own national
borders.
Dollar Ii New Standard.
People telephone to the city from
tiny villa :es to know how the dollar
| stands and fix butter. milk and egg
do not lower prices when tho dollar
falls. but boost them every time it
| shows an upward tendency. If any
| ono asks them II their cows and
chickens, etc, were bought with dol
| lars. and II their servants and lebor-
ers are paid in dollars, he is grumpily
| answered that the farmer must pay
higher and higher prices for every
thing he buys.
II present conditions continue in
Germany the winter will bring not
revolution. for our workers are too
bread riots and the destruction of
markets and stores and attacks on
the coal reserves. The daily anxiety
about the dollar rate arises from
sound instincts and not alone from
desire for gain among the thousands
who today are speculating with.
American stocks in the hope Of in
creasing their insufficient incomes.
Instinct teaches and business ex-
perience confirms that the greatest
trouble will come when the dollar
falls to about sos marks. for besides
a lack of credit we then have the
impossibility of price competition
abroad, unemployment at home and
state bankruptcy.
Germany's situation unfortunately
is not quite so simple as some earnest
American observers conclude after
short stay here and conversations
with cabinet ministers, industrial
leaders and bankers. We need first
to realize that tho Versailles treaty
which as yet has not been applied
in its financial and economic clauses.
Is not and cannot be the cause OF our
present difhculties.
Meantime the prosperity OF the
farmers seems to have been parai-
leled to a degree by the town trades
men who must have earned tremen-
preposterous luxury seen everywhere
the crowded tourist agencies, the
crowded gourmet restaurants. the
jammed boxing spectac1es and the
overrun pleasure resorts?
An insane tax policy explains this
| largely, for when q man knows that
thirds of his earnings will be
taken by the state and only an insig-
niflcant fraction remains for his chill
dren after tho Inheritance taxes are
paid, he has no incentive to save. On
the other hand. he tries at any cost
4
himself and for his family.
Yet our victors are held responsible
for the whole financial disorder, and
hatred against foreigners is stirred
up by the lie that those whom people
see wasting and reveling are all for
eigners.
France Not to Blame.
1t is not Frances fault that the
world does not realize that the tre-
mendous increase of German labor
necessary to clear an enormous debt
would ruin tho creditors markets.
Instead of frankly opening the
books and showing this truth, the
German government has let 1t appear
that the Germans are indolent and
are craftily escaping q debt by
fraudulent bankruptcy.
But a people whose sons in the
third year of motorless aeroplanes
can remain a thousand feet in the air
for three hours and more have not
lost the moral courage to face pain
full realities even IL the chancellor
publicly declares to the contrary.
1 repeat that consistent Official lies
have deprived our whole people of
the power of thinking. The other
day, when the reparations commits
sion for the thirteenth time post
poned a decision, Spectators who ex-
pected either an entente rupture or
horrible punishment for Germany,