loS 



NATURE 



[October ro, 191 8 



she no Longer hopi - fot the 



in n, at the outset, she 1 onfidently 



reckoned Ml her energies are now directed to 



■a: erl to minimise the disasti 01 ■ inseqi 



whicl < - ait her. The era of peaceful penetration 

 ;u end. She realises thai she has incurred 

 ide hatred, and thai I u world's markets 

 mi longer open 10 hei on pre-war terms. 

 Moreover, she is face b nth an unlooked- 

 for and astonishing d< mem on the part of 



her most powerful enen I those industries in 



which she was supreme, and which she trusts 

 may still enable hei er, to some extent, 



her Inst position. ["hese industries, indeed, are 

 the main means b) which she hopes to gel 

 her immediate financial difficulties, to retrieve her 

 commercial credit, and so enable her to purchase 

 the enormous supplies of raw materials of which 



she is in urgent need. 



\ in feu months alter the outbreak of hos- 

 tilities the leaders of German industry realised 

 the seriousness of their position', and during the 

 middle ol 1915 they began to take steps in order 

 to me, 1 the difficulties in front of them. Political' 

 OmpeJled the Slate tO delay for a lime 



ublii recognition of their apprehensions, hut 

 in the late summer of [916 the Government created 

 an Imperial Commission to study and report upon 

 what was termed the "Economics of Transition," 

 or, in other words, the most feasible means of 

 passing from the economic life of war to the 

 economic life "I peace. The Commission con- 

 sisted of certain State functionaries with a tech- 

 nical staff composed of qualified representntb es 

 of every important branch of German industry. 

 Its duties were to consider the best means of 

 regulating the purchase of foreign material, and, 

 as a consequence, to study the question of ex- 

 change, to regulate the transport of the mer- 

 chandise thus bought that is, the question of 

 freight- to regulate the distribution of imported 

 raw material, and, lastly, to decide upon the 

 most effective means of recovering over-sea traffic. 

 The discussion of these questions greatly agi- 

 tated commercial and industrial circles during 

 1916 and 1017, and loused many conflicting in- 

 terests. I'he difficulty was to determine which 

 industries should receive preferential treatment, 

 for ii was obvious that these regulations would 



abl) strike at the rool of all freedom of 

 commerce. The main ideas which seemed to 

 guidi imission, acting in the general in- 



tate, weie In deN e lop as rapidly 

 as possible sportatio.n ol products lor which 



presumably thi e would be an urgent demand, 

 and which, tl 1 commercially the most 



valuable, such n hetic dyes and pharma- 



ceutical products; • ■ ni all importation of 



dispensable material; nufacture as rapidly 



as possible 1 iducts that might 



be re-exported with possible di 



and to import th< I [uantities of 



ad forage. 

 Vs m.i an, , ndustrit s at 



began to urge theii 

 . -554. VOL. I02 



treatment. It was praeticalh impossible to settle 

 th:ir 1 unis on :n\ intelligible 01 rational basis. 



Moreover, man) economists viewed the inter- 

 ference ni the bureaucracy in matters ol com- 

 , ■,ii derable distrust. The greal pur- 

 chasing organisation which was contemplated 

 foreboded a State monopoly. The regulation of 



imports and exports seemed to strike at the 



prosperitj "i ii imburg and Bremen, and the ship- 

 ping interest protested. Commercial freedom, 

 the) insisted, could alone save the country. 



1 oncurrenth with all this unrest there v.. 



growing feeling ol dissatisfaction with the work- 

 ing of the numerous war societies which the 



Government had called into existence and placed 

 under the direction of various Ministers ol State. 

 I!\ the middle ol 0)17 these numbered about 250, 



and were dire, ted SOlel) to the interests of the 



Army and the war. They proved exceedingly 



irksome to the commercial classes as a whole. 



and were al times ol great inconvenience and 



even hardship to the workers, who were moved 



aboul from place to place, like so main pawns 

 in a game, as tin necessities oi the war seemed 

 to demand. By the end of [916 the Imperial 

 Chan, 1 11,, 1 had decreed what was, in tact, a civil 

 mobilisation. Certain industries wen forcibly 

 taken over by the State, such as the manufacture 

 ol soap and ol boots and s>io,-s. | n the lattei 



Case the tanning and leather industries raised 

 a violent protest, and tin reaction it was \irtu- 

 ally a revolution spread throughout Germany. 



A syndicate such as was contemplated l)\ the 

 Government would mean the eventual ruin of 



their export trade. One manufacturer thus ex- 

 pressed himself: "The war has shown how much 

 we as a nation are detested by the foreigner and 

 regarded as barbarians. Merchandise launched 

 upon the world's markets alter the war by a State 

 syndicate would meet with the greatest opposition, 



whereas goods offered by old commercial friends 

 who are known personally, through commercial 

 relations established for years, and are not 

 looked upon as barbarians, would be- received in 

 a \ cr\ different spirit. " 



The arguments of the traders nut with an 

 echo in the Reichstag. The syndicates were 

 warmly d< fended as provisional measures by 



e-x-Yice-t'lian, ellor Helfferich, and supported 



b\ State-Secretary Schwander. Ex-Chancellor 



Mie haelis weni even further: the) wen-, he said, 

 a fiscal necessity, ami must exisi after the- war 



as Stale monopolies, in view ol the enormous 

 financial needs of the Empire. In this declara- 

 tion the industrial community saw the justification 

 ol its 1, -.us and the necessit) lor its action. 

 The opposition was thereby strengthened, and in 

 the end the Government capitulated. 



rhere an two great bran, lies of industr) on 

 which German) sets greal store, and which she 

 hopes ma) do much to rehabilitate- lur commercial 

 position aftei the war. 1 1,,- one is the synthetic 



eoloiu 11. ni, and the- affiliated manufacture ol 



pharmaceutical products; The- other is the potash 

 industi ch she had practicall) a monopoly. 



