706 
of Mechanicians, Boiler-makers, and Foundry- 
men, urging the public to avoid purchasing any- 
thing of German or Austro-Hungarian manufac- 
ture, and to buy rather from the Allies. (iii) To 
prevent Frenchmen from acting as agents for the 
enemy. (iv) To employ no German means of 
transport. 
Much of the French material was made in 
districts now occupied by Germany; it is sad to 
read that 95 per cent. of the steel made by the 
Gilchrist-Thomas process, 90 per cent. of the 
iron ore, 100 per cent. of steel tubes, 76°6 per cent. 
of rails, etc., formerly made in France, are now 
in German hands. On the other hand, iron alloys, 
cast-iron, spiegel-iron, iron coated with zinc, 
copper, and lead, have been little affected. 
It is also hoped that duties will no longer be 
levied on raw materials; French manufacture has 
hitherto been handicapped by this. 
The Syndicate of Pharmacy also suggests that 
French medical men be circularised, and that lists 
be furnished them of substances of German origin 
which should not be purchased. The Society of 
Lithographers, in its report, states that litho- 
graphic stones, previously obtained from Munich, 
may be replaced by plates of zinc and aluminium 
with advantage. Bronze leaves, and bronze, 
copper, and aluminium powders, it appears, have 
not been made in France; it is recommended that 
their manufacture be begun. The German success 
has been largely due to long credits; they sell 
machines, and by their banking system can afford 
to wait long for payment. Subsidised German 
transport gives German manufacturers a great ad- 
vantage; it is often cheaper for a Frenchman to 
send his goods through Hamburg than directly 
from one part of France to another. A better 
French consular system is called for, as well as 
the revival of apprenticeship, and the more loyal 
co-operation of workmen. 
Portland cement has not been troubled with 
German competition in France; but the machines 
are of German make. It appears that 80 per cent. 
of the cement works are in territory at present 
occupied by the German army. 
Agricultural implements, though made to some 
extent in France, have largely been imported from 
the United States. It is suggested in this report 
that lending corporations, trusting for repayment 
to the honour of the borrowers, would be of great 
service, and that they would rarely have loans out 
to defaulters. 
Such are the reports on various industries. 
They all reprobate German methods as unfair, 
while giving credit to the Germans for great in- 
dustry and power of organisation. 
A long article follows by Prof. Henri Hauser, 
of Dijon, on “German Industry as a Factor in 
War.” He attributes to the Germans the good 
qualities of regular, methodical work, and a sense 
of, or even a genius for, organisation. “It is the 
union of the laboratory and the factory which has 
created German wealth.” “It is also to be re- 
marked that there is a close link between the 
director’s office and the library of the economist, 
NO. 2391, VOL. 95| 
NATURE 


[AucusT 26, 1915 
the geographer, and the historian.” ‘The Ger- 
man chemist and the German commercial 
traveller walk side by side to conquer the world.” 
These and other similar aphorisms explain the 
astonishingly rapid growth of German industry. 
Nothing is more erroneous than to describe Ger- 
many as an over-peopled country. Of the 67 
million Germans, 17 millions are tillers of the soil; 
but every year peasants throng into the towns; 
there are above 45 towns of more than 100,000 in- 
habitants. Cereals and meat have to be imported 
to feed 20 million Germans. Cotton is the largest 
import; its value is about 500 million marks, or 
25 million pounds sterling. Germany requires 
much capital; new companies and ventures are 
continually being started; and owing to the system 
of credit, it may be said that she swallows capital 
before its birth. Companies with an imposing 
capital rest on the credit of industrial banks; these 
on Central banks; these again on the Deutsche 
Bank, which is guaranteed by the Reichsbank, 
that is, the credit of the whole German State. In 
order to pay for her imports, foreign trade is 
essential to Germany; she must sell her manu- 
factured products. This war is being waged to 
keep and to gain foreign commerce. Konrad 
Honisch, the Social-Democrat, said: “It is the 
social interests of the proletariat, even more than 
any political considerations, which render the vic- 
tory of Germany imperative.” The Industrial 
State is therefore condemned to participate in a 
“Welt-politik.” 
Prof. Hauser gives instances of ‘dumping ”; 
e.g., in 1900, iron wire cost in Germany 25 marks 
per 100 kilograms, and elsewhere 14 marks; in 
1902, the Coke Syndicate forced the consumer to 
pay 15 marks a ton, while coke was sold abroad 
for 11 marks. But the gain exceeds the loss; the 
State-supported syndicate makes this possible. In 
the former instance there was a loss on foreign 
trade of 859,000 marks, but a gain on home trade 
of 1,117,000 marks. 
The Germans form companies abroad, largely 
from foreign capital; but the majority of the 
directorate are Germans. For example, the 
Banque des Chemins de Fer orientaux of Ziirich 
has a board of eight German directors, one Aus- 
trian, five Swiss, one French, and one Belgian. 
The ordinary shares are all held by Germans; the 
preference shares, with a lower rate of interest, by 
the foreign subscribers, for the low rate of interest 
does not tempt German investors. In Italy a 
similar state of things exists. All large concerns, 
such as the Nord Deutscher Lloyd, the Hamburg- 
Amerika line, the Deutsche Bank, the Disconto- 
Gesellschaft, Siemens-Schuckert, Krupp, and 
Guison are subventioned by the Imperial Ministry 
of Foreign Affairs; furthermore they are helped 
by a kind of industrial espionage, as well as by 
guarantees and subsidies. ‘‘Germany was ‘in a 
blue funk’ about her commerce. What would 
become of Essen, of Gelsenkirchen, of all West- 
phalia, if the Roumanians, Greeks, and Serbs were 
to order their cannon, rails, or locomotives from 
Glasgow or Creusot? War appeared preferable to 
ee 
