Evening star., 1939-04-30

the army; she Is convinced that some
day there will be peace in Europe and
she does not want to repeat the mis-
takes made by the leaders Of France
and especially Great Britain who were
not sufficiently far-sighted to avoid the
mass unemployment attendant upon
the development of mass production
following the World War. Germany is
highly industrialized; Germany has
modern factories in which American
methods of manufacture are now capable
of operating on a scale comparable to
our own.
When the crisis is over-by war or by
some sort of mutual agreement-there
will be millions seeking jobs and crying
for work. There will no longer be an
artificial production, accompanied by
the fanfare of brass bands and the beat
ing of the big patriotic tom-tom. And
Germany wants to do what others failed
to do after the last war-to secure and
organize markets which will accept Ger
many's overproduction, provide the Reich
with the necessary raw materials to keep
prices reasonable and to assure a con-
tinual flow of those materials.
Adopt Higher Tariff Policies.
The history of the last 20 years has
shown that this cannot be done by talk
ing sensible economics. The unbeliev-
able amounts of money by all nations
including the smallest-on military prep
arations compel the governments to
adopt a high tariff policy to replenish
their treasury chests. Direct taxation
everywhere in Europe has reached the
peak and further taxes would make the
existing governments unstable and inse-
cure. Countries which are IS per cent
agricultural have adopted high tariff
policy on industrial goods they do not
produce - or produce at cost much
higher than they can be purchased
abroad-in order to create revenue.
Hitler is using the military club to
line up the countries he is interested in
economically. The agreement with Ru-
mania, for instance, provides that that
country's industry must be scrapped ex-
cept for flour mills and other industrial
establishments dealing directly with
farm products. Rumania will thus be
compelled to purchase all manufactured
articles from Germany-at lower cost
than she can produce them herself-and
provide the Reich with all the natural
wealth her soil produces. The difficulty
of providing exchange for these pur-
chases from Germany-and this applies
to oil ,ty{o r-I,i iyoir fLa
German economic bloc-is obiterated by
the barter system which forms the back
bone OF Germanys present economic
policy.
The same procedure is being followed
with most of the countries which, for
geographic reasons, have their chief eco
nomic outlet through Germany.
Britain's Lineup Is. Hodgepodge.
Great Britain and France have been
moving heaven and earth in the last four
weeks to line up every nation which
might consider it's independence threat
ened by the axis. 1t is hodgepodge of
nations similar to the armies of mer-
cenaries in the 18th and 18th centuries;
armies which fought as long as they were
paid but put mighty little heart into the
fight, which was not theirs.
Great Britain and France are endeav-
oring to bring under the stop-the-
dictator banner nations which are in
trinsically antagonistic to each other;
weak nations which saw how the AUS
trians, the Czecho-Slovaks and the AL
banians Jared despite the solemn en-
gagements which bound the Western
states to come to their assistance If their
independence was threatened.
1t is not surprising that countries like
Rumania and Poland, which are more
directly threatened territorially by Hit
ler's expansionist moves, still look hope
fully for sign of goodwill from Berlin,
despite the obligations they are supposed
to have contracted toward the British
and the French. They are very much
like the Tilted lover who still hopes to
hear the "I forgive you, dear" from his
lost love.
In the stop Hitler coalition are nations
which sincerely desire cooperation with
Germany because they feel they will OBJ
tain no economic assistance from their
present would-be protectors once the po-
ntical crisis which menaces Great Britain
and France is over. They fear that the
strongest will seek the cooperation OF
the strongest and ultimately-history is
full of such instances-they might be
sacrificed in cold blood, should Hitler and
his present opponents find some COM
mon ground on which to iron out their
present controversy.
This, basically, is the reason why Hit
ler was able to drive q swift ball back to
Mr.. Roosevelt while the British and
French diplomats were congratulating
each other that the President of the
United States had put the Reichsfuehrer
on the spot.
(Copyrisht, 1939)