Evening star., 1938-08-20
No Barter Trade.

II the master minds of German econ
omy ever seriously entertained the hope
Of putting over the barter deal which
DR.. Rudolph Brinkmann proposed to
the American Chamber of Commerce in
Germany Wednesday they certainly I'M
derestimated Secretary of State Hulls
devotion to his program of restoring
multilateral channels of trade as well as
his power to perceive motives behind
economic maneuvers.
Mr.. Hull lost no time in spiking any
such expectation the Nazi heart may
have nurtured. He was not to be drawn
into surrender of everything for which
he has fought during the past four years,
often against great odds. For complete
capitulation was what the Nazi proposal
amounted to.
DR.. Brinkmann's appeal was couched
In the most conciliatory of terms. The
right of Americans to their own form
of government was generously recog-
nized. Good will would be the basis for
the new economic rapprochement be-
tween the United States and Germany.
The Reich could promise to take as much
as three or four million bales of Ameri-
can cotton.
But beneath this sugar. was a
scheme, which must seem elementary to
any one acquainted with the German
economic machine, to enlist the re-
sources of the American continent in
the German rearmament program and
to draw from this country new sinews
for the German war machine.
American imports are desired, Of
course, because the rawstuffs which this
continent produces-cotton, metals and
manufactured and semi-manufactured
goods-if purchased with the products
of German industry could go directly
into rearmament.
Foodstuffs, too, would be taken in
large quantities, but on what basis?
That the United States agree to take in
turn sufficient German products to pay
for them. In this way the German for
eign exchange problem, grown so acute
as the result of Nazi concentration on
the production of war materials, would
be alleviated. But without the allevia-
ton which America could provide Ger
man rearmament must continue to take
food from the mouths OF the German
people.
There is no exaggeration in that state
ment. Germany is under the necessity,
as long as self -suficiency is unachieved,
OF importing not only large quantities Of
raw materials for war industries and ex-
port industries, but also substantial
portion of the food her citizens eat.
When allotment of available foreign ex-
change Is made for these needs first
preference is always given to purchases
for military purposes. Cannon before
butter! Next come materials for the
operation of German export industries
and employment of German labor.
Finally, the residue is permitted to be
used for buying the bare necessities Of
foreign foodstuffs which cannot be OBJ
tained through barter agreements.
Any barter arrangement the United
States might make with Germany would
only relieve this pressure on the foreign
exchange and operate thus to enlarge
the supply of "devisen" available for re-
armament, which in turn would magnify
the political menace of Germany to
those countries in Europe which stand
ideologically with the United States.
Other objections might be taken to
any large-scale disposition of American
raw materials to the Nazi Reich, chief OF
them being that Germany would prob
ably repeat her performance with Hun
garian wheat and Brazilian coffee and
cotton, namely, dump them on the world
market at less than cost-that is, cost in
overvalued German products-in order
to obtain the necessary "6evisen."
America may be politically gullible,
but tits attempt to draw American eco
nomic resources behind German military
might was too obvious to go unnoticed.