Evening star., 1927-11-27
by DIR. GUSTAV STOLPER.

hftfS fplHntifCS
by DIR. GUSTAV STOLPER.
BY Radio to The Star.
BERLIN, November 26.-Echoes O
the recent memorandum of ). Parker
Gilbert. agent general of reparatons
will long reVerberate in Germany
His arguments have been taken up IL
the inner political warfare. but 1t J:
not a battle along party INES A.
cuts through all parties.
DR.. Hiiamar Schacht. president ol
the Reichsbank, heads the defenders
of Mr.. Gilbert's arguments, ana De
hind him stands the greatest part OF
industry, which for years mas regarded
the intrusion of states and munlcl
nalties into the economic sphere az
masked socialism. All those Wh'
know the difficulties and the dangers
of the reparations problem also are
| on DR.. Schacht's side. On the other
side stand the big cities and organiza-
tions that favor the development of
municipal ownership.
Hits Luxury" Expenses.
In n speech at Bochum, DR..
Schacht declared that if the cities
had not paid out funds for "luXuries'
| Germany probably would not have
needed to raise a single foreign imam
cial loan. He regards as luXuries
stadiums, swimming pools, parks, eX-
position buildings, hotels. planetarl-
| ums. air harbors, theaters, invest
ments in real estate and credits to
private concerns.
| DR.. Mulert, president of the Ger.
man Staedtetag-the official organiza-
| ton of German cities-replies that
| not a penny has been expended for
unproductive purposes.
But matters are much more com
plicated than these two things indi-
cate. The development of public
ownership in Germany rests on his
t0rical political economic and tech
meal grounds. Even in BismarCks $
Prussia it was a matter of course
that the railroads, street railways,
gas, water and electrical plants, tele.
phones and telegraph. should be
operated, not by private persons. but
by the state and communes. In ad-
dition Prussia then owned mines.
forests and various industrial under
takings.
New Tasks Imposed.
The revolution and currency infla-
tion imposed tremendous new tasks
on the state and the municipalities.
The revolution democratiZed German
self government and classes of the
population. who heretofore had been
excluded. gained influence and made |
new and greater demands on state |
and cities than the formerly domi- |
nant bourgeois class.
These demands increased in pro- |
portion as the sufferings of the war
and of initiation oppressed the broad |
masses of the people. Care of the |
mental and physical welfare of the |
people became an important duty of |
the municipalities.
The initiation and the crippling of |
the German money market forced |
state and cities into a new big terri |
tory which heretofore had been re-
served for private industry-the build
ing of dwelling houses. For with to |
10 per cent interest for mortgage and |
with building costs 20 per cent above |
those of 1918. private building was pos
sible only at rentals utterly out of
reach of the broad masses.
Thus practically the only dwellings
being built in Germany today are be-
ing built with public funds.
And finally, there is the technical
revolution. It is known that no Euro
pean land is so Zealously striving to
introduce American methods of pro-
duction as Germany. And technical
progress is greatest precisely in that
branch of industrial life which long
belonged to the sphere of public own
ership in Germany-the generation of
power and traffic. That inventions of
late years have made it possible to gen.
crate electricity with half the former
coal consumption; that new methods
Of c
have been found; that the automobile
| is steadily becoming a more important
competitor of the railroads, and has
given road building an Importance
| formerly undreamed of-Such develop
ments cannot be characterized as
productive" or "unproductive."
Compares Expenditures.
Expenditures for athletic fields can
be productive, since they make the
! population strong and able to work,
and the most modern electrical or gas
| plant can be unproductive if cur
rent and gas can be bought more
| cheaply elsewhere.
In SO far, DIR. Schacht and DR.
Mulert are both right and both wrong.
The real problem is the problem Of
democratic control, and hence a con
stitutional problem.
But constitutional reforms are the
most difficult political tasks in al
countries. Hence it cannot be eX
pected that Germany will solve the
! problem overnight. Since Mr.. Gil
| bert's memorandum, however, Ger
many is united in a realization that
it must be solved as soon as pos
sble, in Germanys own interest.
fCopyright. 1927