view raw text
TO PREVENT TRADE DOMINATION The idea remarks the Newark News is to prevent German trade domination precisely as we are fighting German political and military domination to shut the doors of commerce and prevent Germany from any hope of capitalizing her loot in Russia and Roiimania to bar her out until she is willing to give over her exclusive ideas of domination As to Germanys chances of realizing promptly on Russias resources the New York Republic has this to say sayWill Will not Germany have access to the great Rus ¬ sian markets in spite of any agreement the allies may make among themselves And will she not be able through Russia to draw upon the Asiatic trade In a measure yes But Russian trade we must remember is more roseate in prospect than in the actuality Russia has vast natural resources especially agricultural and a vast population These are the preconditions of a thriving trade Russia is however disorganized and inefficient She will produce at best only a surplus of foodproducts and these can be of great value to German economic life only if they can be shipped to the market of the allies Russia will afford a sound basis for German prosperity only if the Germans may occupy the position of middleman drawing raw materials from overseas to work up for the Russian market and paying for them with Russian supplies shipped to maritime markets This the Germans themselves recognize In the huge volume of current economic discussion in Germany prospectuses of Russian gains play a relatively small part What the German economic statesmen are now revolving are plans for forcing the allies to grant them their old place in the traffic of tlie world worldIf If all the nations save Russia and Roumania could lx held in a solid economic union against the Teutonic inwers Germany would be defeated says the New York Tribune even if her armies were not But it fears this cannot be done doneIf If Germany is given time to consolidate the vast resources of Russia and develop that enormous ter ¬ ritory and population as its own it will have trad ¬ ing nad economic possibilities almost equal to that of all the rest of Europe To something less than 140000000 at present under the Teutonic dominion it would add not less than 150tXX000 and a terri ¬ tory the least developed and the most susceptible to quick development of perhaps any to be found on tho globe With Germany in that position it is evident that all of the neutral nations could uot IIP forced to set up a trade wall against hnr The profit of exchanges with her would be too great greatIn In a word since the collapse of Russia the idea of the economic victory has become a dream Literary Digest