New Age, Vol. 16, No. 9, Dec. 31, 1914
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PAGE PAGE, NOTESOF THE WEEK . 209 THEADVENTURES OF A YOUNGRUSSIAN. By C. E. FOREIGNAFFAIRS. By S. Verdad . 211 Bechhöfer . 222 IN THE 212 FREEDOM GUILD-IX. ByG. D. H. Cole VIEWS AND REVIEWS: LAWAND OPINION. By SIX YEARS-VI. By MarmadukePickthall . 214 A. E. R. 224 A WORDTO THE MIDDLECLASS. By I. J. C. Brown 215 REVIEWS . 225 WARAND THE ÆSTHETE. By Lionel deFonseka . 216 CURRENTCANT . 227 IMPRESSIONSOF PARIS. By Alice Morning . 217 THE LITERATUREOF THE UKRAINE. By Vasyl PASTICHE.By UptonSinclair. Mary Createau, Levitzky. (Translated by P. Selver) . 219 J.A.M.A., WilfridThorley, P. Selver, A.B.C. 227 THECHAMELEON. By Anton P. Tchekhov. (Trans- LETTERSTO THE EDITORfrom Y. Y., Fairplay, lated by P. Selver) . 220 R. B. Kerr,Christina Just, A. S. Neill, READERSAND WRITERS.By R. H. C. 221 J. S. D., Ida G. Hyett . 228 sugar represented £4,250,000. The figures for 1912 NOTES OF THE WEEK. are available to show the value of German goods ex- OF all the foolish people who clamoured so loudly at the ported to other British possessions. India, for instance, took nearly £7,000,000 worth ; Australia, £7,250,000; beginning of the war for the capture of German trade, Canada, £3,000,000; South Africa, £3,400,000; West how many,we wonder, have actually succeeded in Africa, £1,400,000; andtheStraits Settlements, capturingany? Probably onlyone man in a hundred £800,000. Inthe same year, when ourexports to who seriously interested himself in the question at the Argentinaamounted to £23,750,000, theGerman ex- beginning knew that something more was necessary for ports were worth £13,000,000. TheGerman exports the proposed commercial warfare than the ,writing down to Brazilwere valued at £11,000,000, andours at of lists of German exports to this country and to other £16,000,000. The value of ourexports to the United parts of the world.Many of ourstock, unidea'd Stateswas £54,500,000 and of theGerman exports economists, whose names still appear in the newspapers £34,000,000. *** andreviews with irritating frequency, have so far re- strictedthemselves to this easy method of building up Superficiallyexamined, it would appear from these new business.But much more thanthat is required; figures that there is nothing for us to do but to clear and the difficulties are not yet known even to our busi- the seas and send out our commercial travellers. A few ness men themselves. Let us refer first of all to one or men of sense, chiefly in thepurely technical organs, two of the purely technical obstacles in the way of our have warned our enthusiastic journalists that there may commercial advancementat the expense of Germany be severe competition from the United States and Japan; which have beenentirely overlooked by the general butlittle heed has beenpaid to these warnings. It is public, andeven by manyexporters and exporters' assumed,quite erroneously, that we have all the agents. requisite machinery for manufacturing the goods in the *** export of which we propose to supplant the Germans; andnot until they had gone into the question very We have no intention,in our editorial columns, of thoroughly indeed did our manufacturers, or a few of dealing with figures in detail; but a few may be brought them, find outthat they weremistaken. Even before to the recollection of our readers as a guide. Our own the war there had been an agitation infavour of the imports from Germany last year were valued at nearly starting of sugar-beet enterprises in this country; but £85,000,000. Ofthis amount sugar and sugar-beet let it be well noted that this was not possible without representedover £11,000,000; cornand other food- Government aid. Here was an Austro-German industry stuffs, £3,500,000 ; raw materials, includingcocoanut of which we were forced to take advantage every year oil, feathers,manures, wool, wood-pulp, rubber,and to the tune of £15,250,000; yet we could not supplant seeds, £3,000,000; andmanufactured or semi-manu- it without the assistance of the State. How isit pro- factured articles, £46,000,000. Inthe last category posed tosupplant industries, such as the German es- we imported from Germany metal ores and manufactures port of electrical goods, which do not affect us even to worth £12,000,000; cotton goods, £7,000,000; leather, this extent?In brass, copper, alloys,and brass tools, £3,250,000; silk, £2,650,000; armsand explosives, theGermans have an almost complete monopoly. In £2,150,000 ; anddye-stuffs, £1,800,000. Of the other dye-stuffsthey are equally well situated.For certain items in this category, skins and furs, chemical manu- classes of electrical goods they have a monopoly which, factures,paper, motor-cars, glass, and toys were im- even now, four months after the declaration of war, we ported to the value of about £1,000,000 to £1,700,000 havenot seriously attacked.Despite numerous adver- foreach item. 'There werealso many electrical manu- tisements in the papers, the German manufacturers still factures,pianos, and the like. Of the £7,700,000 possess a monopoly forcertain classes of chemical worth of goods weimported from Austria-Hungary, goods. 210 It is one thing to exploit German patents; it is quite What, under our present commercial organisation, does anotherto solve German scientificsecrets. Theglass theinvestor demand before he signs his cheque? Let for our electric lamps comes from Bohemia ; and we can an acknowledgedauthority supply the answer. To- manufactureit only withsome difficulty. The“ingre- wards the end of August-lest we should be accused of dients” for the filament are made almost entirely from concealingessential facts, let ussay that it was on metallic tungstenextracted inGermany from wolfram August 26, at the offices of the National Patriotic Asso- ore. We depended for years on German tungsten, and ciation, 32, St. Paul’s Churchyard, E.C.--certain busi- it is only within the last few months that we ourselves ness men assembled in solemn conclave under the chair- began to experimentwith the extraction of tungsten manship of no less a person that Sir George Pragnell. from wolfram. The ferro-chromeand ferro-tungsten “Replying to a question,”say the newspaper reports, used for hardening our steel both came from Germany. “as to whetherthere would beany protection of the We are finding it difficult to manufacture mantles for Britishtraders against German and Austrian imports incandescentgas-lighting, for the thorium nitrate and after the war was over, so that capital invested would ramie thread used for the purpose also come from Ger- not bethrown away by theundercutting of the many. The carbon for our arc-lamps-yes, the carbon foreigner, thechairman said theanswer rested with even for our Admiralty’s searchlights-has always come the sections. Inregard to chemicals anddrugs, the from Germany ; and only one firm, the General Electric Government had gone a long way, and he hoped pres- Company, Witton,is manufacturing carbons in this sure would be brought by the big chemists to ensure the country. German producers, in order to secure a mono- Government going still further, to make it easier when poly here, undercut the General Electric Company sys- the war was over, and for six months afterwards, for tematicallyby fifty per cent.in tendering ; andthe English people to competesatisfactorily with German company lost £70,000 up to August last, when even the patentgoods.” So muchfor the chairman. “Mr. Admiralty patronised it. When the German exports are R. B. Croydon said the labour question entered largely analysed it will be time enough to talk of supplanting intothe matter of capturingour enemies’ trade. Dis- them.Many of the German chemical concerns are tricts where there was plenty of female labour, such as merely the auxiliary businesses, or rather departments, Tottenhamand East Ham, should be developed.” of other industries; and the advantages of the kartel *** system(we speak, for the moment, commercially) en- able industries to co-operate to an extent which English We shall look for a striking increase in the popula- manufacturersdo not realise. The by-products of a tion andprosperity of Tottenhamand East Ham. In chemical firm may be utilised by a dyeing company ; the the meantime, let us consider the substance of these re- by-products of a brass works may be taken over by an marks made by the chairman and one of his prominent electricalengineering company. Only by the so-called supporters. It quiteis evident that our patriotic “vertical”Trusts in the United States-i.e., a Trust bankers will notadvance a penny of capitalfor the which monopolises or at least partly controls all stages establishment of new industries until they are satisfied of manufacture, from the raw material to the finished that those industries will be “protected” when the war article-is as gooduse made of by-products as in is over-and forsix months afterwards, to quoteSir Germany. George Pragnell. In a word, our investor, be he banker *** or private individual, demands adequate security for his capital,and as anadditional means of “protection,” Clearly, then,we cannot at oncebegin tosupplant cheap labour-female labour, as Mr. R. B. Croydon Germanmanufacturers, eitherin our owncountry or said,with admirable frankness. But at that point, anywhere else. We havechemical andengineering even with his capital secured and his machinery erected, works, of course ; but their machinery is not in all cases themanufacturer in search of new profits-we want adapted to making goods of the kind Germany has been Germany’s trade, i.e., Germany’s profits-will find other turning out.Manufacture has become specialised ; difficulties awaiting him. He will discover thatthere machinery cannot readily be diverted from one class of was a very close connection-we should rather use the manufacture to another.