Evening star., 1939-08-07
Rumania, YugosIavia
Are Hoarding Grain,
Nazi Paper Charges
Peasants, Fearing War,
Prefer Holdings in
Commodity Form
By WALLACE r. DEUEL..


CHICAGO Daily News Foreign Correspondent.
BERLIN, Aug. 7 (By RADIO -
Fear of war, which hangs over Eu-
rope like a suffocating cloud, is
causing the peasants in Rumania
and Yugoslavia to hoard their grain
instead of selling 1t, the Frankfurter
Zeitung declares in an article pub
1ished over the week end. One OF
the results of this boarding seems to
be that Germany is having difficulty
in obtaining delivery of grain it has
ordered in Southeastern Europe. al
though the Frankfurter Zeitung does
not actually say so openly.
SO long as the danger of war
seems to be as serious as 1t appar-
emily does seem to the peasants, they
will prefer to have their holdings IN
the form Of grain rather than bank
balances or credits expressed IN
terms of currencies which the peas
ants think will greatly depreciate in
value in case of war, the Frank
furter Zeitungs article says.
Trade Difficulties Cited.
The F'rankfurter Zeitung's report
Of grain boarding in Rumania and
Yugoslavia is included in an unus-
ually revealing article on some of
the difficulties and disadvantages to
all concerned in Germanys meth
ods of carrying on trade with South
eastern Europe.
The Reichs trade partners in that
part of the continent are grumbling
q good deal about their economic and
financial relations with Germany,
the article says. They grurnble be-
cause, under the present semi-mo-
nopoly arrangements, they cannot
buy where they want to but must
make their purchases in the Reich;
they grumble because they receive
no free foreign exchange from Ger
many for their products, but only
German goods, and they grumble
over the delay in the delivery of
Reich products which they do buy.
The Frankfurter Zeitung warns
German business men that they
must do everything possible to do
away with the legitimate cause for
this grumbling where they exist At
the same time they find much, if not
most, of the complaining unjustif1ed
1t Is due more to general political
nervousness and short temper
worked upon by French and English
propagandists, than it is to the true
facts of the situation, the article
claims.
Disadvantages Admitted.
There are obvious disadvantages
to the present German foreign trade
policy and the methods whereby it
is conducted, the Frankfurter lei
tung admits. The benefits which
result, however. more than compen-
safe for the disadvantages. And
certainly Germany itself makes
heavy sacrifices in the interest of its
trade with Southeastern Europe
sacrifices which its partners in that
area are slow to understand and
appreciate.
The Reich also gets little or no
free foreign exchange from this
trade, the article says. Germany
could sell its products elsewhere if
it were free to do so, the article
claims The Reich national economy
is so overburdened that strenuous
efforts must be made to fill orders
from Southeastern Europe at all
costs. And finally Germany is pay
ing prices to Southeastern Europe
for several commodities which are
far above world prices for those
same goods and in most cases
charges too little for its goods to
compensate itself for these losses.
The Nazis, meanwhile, are work
ing feverishly to bring in Germany's
own harvest as quickly as possible.
The shortage in farm labor in the
Reich makes extraordinary efforts
necessary to get in the crops at all,
but the Nazis want to accomplish
something much more important
than merely completing the harvest
at the usual time-they want to get
the crop in some time before the
usual date.
copyright, 1880, Chicago Daily News, 1nc.)