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GERMANY AND THE WORLD TRADE TRADELord Lord Kobert Cecil British foreign secretary has rather incorrectly described Germany as the one obstacle to an economic association of nations Kather is she the stimulus of it Such a commer ¬ cial federation as Lord Kobert Cecil outlines might never have been dreamed of but for the ambitions and designs of Germanys present rulers It will not add to the peace of mind of the Potsdam clique to know that an economic union of the entente na ¬ tions already exists The alliance of eight lias been expanded to thrice that number and they are united in an agreement to carry on a war after the war unless Germany displays a change of heart heartAs As long as an autocratic monarch with a cabinet of junkers and military swashbucklers controlling a subservient Keichsrath exists at Berlin so long will it be impossible to believe in any protestations Germany may make of conversion from aims which have drenched Europe and parts of Asia and Africa with blood and would ultimately bring ruin and destruction followed by virtual slavery to the whole world Germanys most vulnerable spot in the future will be her foreign trade and commerce Before the war the markets of the world were freely open to her She could send her subsidized ships and bountyaided commodities into any port and underbid and undersell and undermine comi etiiig incrciiants and manufacturers by methods which occur so readily to the Teuton mind mindThe The country which talks so loudly about the free ¬ dom Of the seas but which has done so much to destroy it possessed that freedom to the fullest extent and too often made insidious and dishonor ¬ able use of it The result was an enormous growth of German trade and commercial prosperity through ¬ out the globe which gave to German merchants bankers and militarists exalted and exaggerated ideas of their countrys future The modesty ex ¬ pressed claim to a place in the sun expanded into a plot for monopolizing the sunshine that is to say obtaining complete control of the worlds trade tradeAlthough Although the scheme was fairly obvious little real alarm or annoyance was shown by other coun ¬ tries and no barriers were set up to prevent an extension of German overseas trade On the other hand Germany jealously guarded and monopolized the trade of her own colonies and artfully restricted foreign commerce by methods less obvious than ef ¬ fective fectiveThe The magnificent commercial structure which Ger ¬ many had so laboriously and skillfully built up during the two decades preceding the war lias been demolished by her own act and deed Of course her rulers counted on emerging from the war com ¬ plete victors with power to dictate terms to their enemies and ultimately the world at large But the few nations which opposed Germany when she let loose the ilogs of war have multiplied to a for ¬ midable list and they command in the aggregate the worlds trade and commerce They are bent on maintaining tills position and nothing that Ger ¬ many can now say or do will prevent or disturb it New York Herald
