Evening star., 1925-08-16
GERMANY In NEW DRIVE
FOR WORLD SUPREMACY
American Industry Menaced by Same
Twisted Mentality That Made
World War So Ruthless.

the loan is sought. This applies as
we'll to loans to countries other than
Germany but it is Germany we are
discussing now.
UnsOund Credit Structure.
1t is a we'll known fact that the i'm
mense strides Germany made as a
world trader before the war We're due
in no small measure to the terms Of
credit she gave These. credits We're
made possible only by government
subsidies in some form or other and,
! from an American point of view, were
| absolutely unSound and unhealthy.
| That they were unsound even with
| government backing is evidenced by
the fact that the German credit sys-
tenn had become so topheavy that it
| was threatening to topple. and such
we'll informed authorities as DIR. Julius
! Klein, director of the Bureau of For
| eign and Domestic Commerce, believe
| that had not the war interviewed ii
| would have come down with world
! shaking crash.
Such being the case it is not diff
| cult to recognize significance in the
| fact that the Germans are busily en-
gagged today building up just such
another credit structure. In the mar
kets of the world they are getting
business away from their American
and English rivals by making credit
terms which Americans and British
cannot meet or are unwilling to meet,
because they know business gotten
on such terms is not healthy business.
+ Where are the Germans getting the
money to finance these long credits T.?
| 1t is true that imitation and cancella-
| ton have freed their fixed capital
! from about all its mortgage charges,
but that does not give them the fluid
capital necessary to the processes of
manufacture and export. The gov
ernment cannot be supplying it. for
! the German government is supposed
| to be broke. The suspicion arises,
and would seem to be justified, that
much of this unfair and unsound
competition is being financed by
money borrowed in Great Britain and
the United States. Do American
| bankers who are lending American
dollars TO the Germans know whether
or not these dollars are being used to
! undermine American trade and throw
American workers out of employ
ment? 1t is a fair question and the
bankers ought to answer 1t.
Boring From Within.
| Nor is it alone in foreign markets
! that the Germans are resorting to
underhand practices to throttle
American industry. They are trying
right now in the United States to get
! their grip on the American chemical
industry which has been built up
since the war. And American invest
ors are largely furnishing the finan-
cial ammunition which is being used
to cripple American industry-not the
chemical industry alone, but the
textile and other industries which are
dependent upon the chemical plants.
Before the war Germany was su-
preme in the chemical field and the
industries of all the world paid tribute
to her. The war forced other nations.
particularly the United States and
Great Britain, to develop chemical in
dustries of their own. American
chemical plants now supply more than
| 80 per cent of the requirements of
American industry. The tariff pro-
tects the American chemists and pre-
vents the dumping of German chemi-
| calls on the American market. So the
| Germans are trying to get control of
| the American plants and already have
succeeded to some extent. Not hav-
! ing money. of their own with which
/ to buy the plants. they are issuing
bonds to cover purchase costs and SELL
ing the bonds to American investors.
Backed by the /. G.
At the head and front of the Ger
man chemical industry and back of
the campaign to gain control of
American chemical plants is the
| Unforeseen Geminschaft, the great
| German chemical cartel, as ruthless
and constituencies a combination of
capital as the world ever knew. 1t
is tied up in all sorts of ways with
the German textile and other indus
tries, and it's history before the war
is ample warning that it is a rival
that needs watching.
The minds back Of the I. G.. as the
cartel is familiarly known, are the
same twisted German minds that ap-
proved violation of the treaty guaran-
teeing the neutrality of Belgium:
minds that can see no wrong in
double-dealing with a competitor so
long as the ends sought rebound to
German benefit. 1t doesn't require
any vivid imagination to foresee what
would happen to the textile and other
American industries dependent upon
chemicals If the I. G. should succeed
in getting control of the newly estab-
lished chemical industry. They would
pay, and pay through the nose. and
be further handicapped in competition
with Greman industry in the markets
of the world. So far the I. G. has
campaign to control the American
chemical industry. They captured
those outposts only because Ameri-
cans supplied the necessary ammuni-
! ton in the form of American dollars
How much farther they progress in
| their campaign depends upon how
much more ammunition of the same
kind Americans are willing to pro-
vide. In the future when chemical
49,, i
investors ought to make mighty Ger
tain that American, and not German.
interests are back of the Offering
Being Fair to Germany.
Americans want to be fair to Ger
many. They want to see the Germans
get back on their feet, pay their
debts and be useful and contented
neighbors. But Americans ought not
to be plain silly in their efforts to be
fair. We are not going to make
friends of the Germans by letting
them play us for suckers. The Ger
mans are not built that way We will
only increase the contempt they
already have for us, in common with
their contempt for all non-German
peoples.
1 promised ! would say a word for
the Germans in Offset to the things
1ill iOICco " soy saSdlLSl liicili, anu
here it is: I believe the allies should
give back to Germany the colonies
they took away from her by the terms
of the treaty of Versailles.
/ held that belief before coming to
Europe and the most open minded
inquiry here has confirmed me in it.
1t is not predicated upon any SYM
pathy for Germany or conviction that
she was unjustly despoiled of her pos
sessions by the victors. think Ger
many ought to be given back her
colonies simply and solely as safety
valve C.prmanV never was a QaO0