Evening star., 1939-10-21
Nuzi Economic PLIGHT

'>uA' -SOi'oIIiiS IIISnC
Germany, face to face with the
stark realities of war economy. is
beginning to draw in its belt. Dis
patches from Berlin tell OF reduc-
tlons in the lard and tallow allow
ances and an increasing scarcity
almost to the point of disappear
ance-of most of the non-rationed
foods which had consoled Hitler's
reglmented consumers Fish, for ex-
ample, which had been exempted
from the rationing regulations, has
become a rarity in Berlin's stores,
due to disruption of the North Sea
fishing industry. There has been a
veritable run" on the fish market
in Germany because of the one
pound-a-week limitation placed on
per capita meat consumption. Sup
plies OF soap of private manufacture
are rapidly being exhausted. The
Well-know brands will be replaced by
a war standard soap" of fixed COM
ponents.
Apparently as sop to discontented
housewives, the Nazi government
has granted an extra ounce of butter
per person per week, bringing the
maximum allowable per week to four
ounces. AS further concession to
its War-pinched populace, Germany
has decided to defer certain wage
cuts which had been planned as a
corollary of wartime control of prices
and profits. 1t is reported that the
| poStponement grew out of fears that
wage reductions at this time would
seriously impair the morale of the
workers and result in decreased eff
cheney and lowered production.
How long Germany can exist under
such SLOW starvation" plan is
a matter of keen speculation among
economists. The Reich has been in
financial difficulties for years. The
Nazi Ministry of Economics stated a
year ago that taxes and other COM
pulsory contributions amounted to
one-thlrd of the national income and
that the government was spending
more than half the national income.
The Reich at war finds itself almost
devoid of gold and other cash needed
for war supplies, dependent almost
entirely on what credits can be OBJ
tanned abroad. Germany is self
sufficient only in coal, fertilizer, beet
sugar and a few other essentials.
She must import large quantities of
iron, copper, aluminium ore, alloys,
cotton, rubber lumber, petroleum
and fats. All rubber imports have
been cut off by the allied blockade,
and the best efforts of Germany's
chemists have produced only about
one-fourth enough synthetic rubber
to meet even peacetime requirements.
! The blockade also has interrupted
the fuel oil and gasoline supplies
from the United States, Mexico and
Venezuela. Only the oil wells of Ru-
| mania and Soviet Russia remain
available to the Nazis-and little can
be expected from the Russian fields
because of the Soviet's own consider
able needs.
1t is to be expected, therefore, that
the German military forces will fight
the Tightening bonds of the British
and French naval blockade with every
means at their command-from
U-boats to bombing planes. The
partially successful attacks on sec
tions of the British fleet within the
past few weeks are evidences of the
desperate struggle which the Reich
is making to break the allied stran-
glehold. 1t is becoming increasingly
obvious that the chances of a Ger
man victory in this war will be meas
ured largely by the degree of success
which the Nazi high command is
able to achieve in evading the allied
blockade and avoiding the peril of
economic strangulation.