Respect for the foreigner--Russians willing to remain in
Germany--Ill-treatment of Germans in Belgium and France.
Enemies on all sides! With dishonorable weapons against us, and with
documentary lies for the rest of the world! Let us calmly allow them to
continue lying and slandering as they have begun--it will result finally
in injuring themselves. The world will very soon see through this
impudent, unabashed game; and it will finally side with the people which
keeps to the truth, Only the weakling lies and swindles; the strong man
loves and honors truth. Let us act like the strong man in this struggle!
Respect for the foreigner, protection for his person and property have
at all times been considered sacred among civilized people. Germany can
without exaggeration claim to have upheld this respect and this
protection in these fateful days. Except for a few insignificant
incidents which took place in several large cities, where the natural
excitement of the people and the legitimate defense against an insolent
system of spying led to the molesting and arrest of foreigners--mostly
Russians--the measures taken against the citizens of hostile nations did
not exceed what was absolutely necessary to the safety of the country.
The Imperial Government and likewise the Federated States have refrained
from expelling "en masse" Frenchmen, Russians, Belgians and Englishmen.
It was, of course, unavoidable to take measures for the detention of
such persons as seemed suspicious and for the internation of strangers
liable to be called to take arms against Germany. This took place in
cities, e.g., Berlin, where these men were taken away as "prisoners of
war," as soon as the "state of war" had been proclaimed, and placed in
special rooms or camps. Lodgings and food are such as seem requisite and
the treatment of these prisoners is according to their own opinion very
kind. The Russian agricultural laborers constitute a special group of
foreigners in Germany: There are about 40,000 to 50,000 of them, men and
women.
From various parts of the country it is unanimously announced that these
people are very glad not to be obliged to return to Russia. They are
glad to remain in Germany, and willingly continue their work of
gathering the rich German grain, potato and hay crops. Should there be
any difficulties, these workmen would also have to be internated. No
measures at all have been taken against women and children belonging to
hostile States. They are left free to move about as they wish. Should
they remain in Germany they can be sure that they will be subject to no
other inconvenience except such as the general state of war inflicts
upon Germans. The authorities will protect their persons, and their
private property is respected. Nobody will touch it--as nobody has
touched it so far.
If the German people and the German Government consider the respect they
owe the foreigner as a sacred law, even though the foreigner belongs to
the enemy, this respect is enhanced by affection and gratitude in the
case of foreigners whose countries are friendly or neutral.
Thousands and thousands of Americans, Swiss, Dutch, Italians and
Scandinavians are still living in German countries. They may be sure
that they can live as freely here as any German citizen. Should it be
possible for them to return home, the best wishes will accompany them.
The property they leave here will be protected. This is guaranteed by
the authorities and by influential private persons. Should they stay in
Germany, however, the German people will express their sense of
gratitude for any friendly help they may lend, by increased respect and
protection.
* * * * *
A strong contrast is noticeable between Germany's attitude toward
foreigners and the facts revealed just now as to the treatment meted out
in inimical countries not only to Germans but to other foreigners.
Truly, in England there has been some effort to act according to the
usages of civilized nations when engaged in warfare. Germans and
Austrians have been insulted and molested; there has been some
occasional destruction of property in stores; but as far as can be
judged these were excesses of an uncontrollable mob. A general expulsion
has not been ordered, and it is to be hoped that the Germans living in
the United Kingdom and in its colonies will not suffer too heavy
damages, in person or in property. Russia, France and Belgium, on the
other hand, have by the ill-treatment and plundering of foreigners
living in their countries struck themselves out of the list of civilized
nations. Innumerable reports from expelled or fugitive people prove
this, and official reports confirm them. Also the press of neutral,
neighboring countries, such as Switzerland, Holland, and Italy, is full
of similar complaints. Owing to the scarcity of news from Russia, the
facts known so far only concern Petersburg, where German and Austrian
men and women, residents or transients, were beaten and stoned in the
streets. Here were also some cruel mutilations and murders. The
beautiful building of the German Embassy in Petersburg was attacked by
the mob. And the police watched all these misdeeds with crossed arms or
even assisted. Probably what took place in Petersburg also occurred in
other Russian cities; we shall soon know.
There are a great many complaints against the French and the Belgians.
On the evening of Aug. 1 the mobilization was announced, and the next
morning the official order was posted on the walls, that within
twenty-four hours from the beginning of that day all Germans and
Austrians, irrespective of sex, age or profession, would have to leave
France. Those who remained and could not reach the boundary would be
taken to the southwestern part of the country and imprisoned. There were
few trains for Belgium or Switzerland. Thousands and thousands who had
to abandon their property rushed to the stations with wife and children,
fought for room in the overcrowded trains, surrounded by a howling mob,
and even then were punched and slapped by policemen. During the trip
there was nothing but misery. Men and women fell ill, children died. The
refugees had to cross the Belgian boundary, walking a distance of six or
seven kilometers in the middle of the night, dead tired, their luggage
stolen--sometimes, it is said, by officials. In Belgium the same tragedy
occurred as in France. And then came the salvation. The cordial,
hospitable reception by the Germans in Holland and Switzerland is
unanimously praised and appreciated.
The reports of brutal acts from Paris, Antwerp, Brussels, would be
incredible were they not confirmed hundredfold. The most brutal and
insulting threats of death were flung by processions of people going
through the streets to all those who looked like foreigners. They were
severely ill-treated. Houses and stores were upset, furniture and the
like were thrown into the streets, employers and working people were
dragged out, women were stripped and pushed through the streets,
children were thrown out of windows. Knives, swords, sticks and
revolvers were used. One could fill books with the details, but they are
all equally cruel. Not only Germans and Austrians were expelled
and ill-treated, but citizens of neutral States shared this awful lot.
Thousands of Italians were expelled, as well as numerous Rumanians. The
press in both countries complains bitterly and asks what has become of
those who remained in France and were imprisoned in the south--but
nobody knows.
History will place this ill-treatment and oppression of foreigners on
record. The responsibility rests, not with an uncontrollable mob, but
with the Government and the authorities of the two countries who have
always boasted of their culture.
* * * * *
COMMERCE AND TRADE RELATIONS
BETWEEN GERMANY AND UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Germany's financial rise since 1870--Export and import with the United
States of America--The present firm condition of German finance.
Politicians and commercial men must base their plans upon facts, as they
are and not as they wish they were, otherwise they fail. France has
closed its eyes not only to the great intellectual and moral assists of
Germany but also to its commercial resources.
France has repeatedly declared that Germany could not effect a serious
political opposition, because a war would result in the ruin of its
commercial and financial strength. This we heard in the Morocco crisis,
also in the Balkan wars. Germany's love of peace which was tested in the
above-mentioned cases strengthened the French in their error. He,
however, who has taken the trouble to visit Germany and the Germans in
their places of employment--and especially Americans in recent years
have done this, however, also many Englishmen, who in vain have
protested against the war with Germany--he can testify to the
astonishing commercial advancement which Germany has made since its
political union by Bismarck.
A few facts and statistics may recall this to memory. The population of
Germany has since 1870, immigrants excluded, increased from 40,000,000
to 67,000,000, round numbers. Incomes and wages in particular have
approximately doubled during the last generation; savings deposits have
increased sixfold. Although, only a generation ago, commerce and trade
employed only about two-fifths of the population, now more than
three-fifths are engaged in this field of work, and Germany, as a result
of its agricultural economy and increased intense farming, is today the
third largest agricultural country of the world. In the coal and iron
industries Germany is second only to America. In one generation its coal
production increased two and a half fold, its raw iron production almost
fourfold. During the same period of time the capital of the German banks
increased fourfold and their reserve fund eightfold. Characteristic of
Germany is the fact that hand in hand with this active private
initiative is a strong feeling for the great universal interests and for
organic co-operation of private and State resources. This feeling
explains the perfect working of our State activities, in particular our
railways, 95 per cent. of which are owned by the Government and which
yield an essentially higher revenue than those in England or France; it
explains further the willing assumption of the great financial burdens
which general insurance imposes upon those engaged in private
enterprises and which today is proving a blessing to almost the entire
laboring force of Germany, to an extent which has not yet been realized
by any other country.
What economic value to the world has a nation which for more than forty
years has concentrated all its energy in peaceful industry? Does any one
deny that Germany's great technical and commercial advancement has been
a blessing in respect to the development of the world? Has not the
commercial advancement in Germany had the effect of awakening new
productive powers in all parts of the world and of adding new
territories which engage in the exchange of goods with the civilized
nations of the world? Since the founding of the new German
Empire, German foreign trade has increased from 5-1/2 to approximately
20 billion marks. Germany has become the best customer of a great number
of countries. Not only has the German consumption of provisions and
luxuries increased in an unusual degree, also that of meat, tropical
fruits, sugar, tobacco and colonial products, but above all else that of
raw materials, such as coal, iron, copper and other metals, cotton,
petroleum, wood, skins, &c. Germany furnishes a market for articles of
manufacture also, for American machinery, English wool, French luxury
articles, &c. One is absolutely wrong in the belief that the competition
of German industry in the world market has been detrimental to other
commercial nations. Legitimate competition increases the business of all
concerned.
The United States of America has reaped especial profit from Germany's
flourishing commercial condition. Germany purchases more from the United
States of America than from any other country of the world. Germany buys
annually from the United States of America approximately $170,000,000
worth of cotton, $75,000,000 worth of copper, $60,000,000 worth of
wheat, $40,000,000 animal fat, $20,000,000 mineral oil and the same
amount of vegetable oil. In 1890 the import and export trade between
Germany and the United States amounted to only $100,000,000, in 1913 to
about $610,000,000. Germany today imports from the United States goods
to the value of $430,000,000, while she exports to the United States
nearly $180,000,000 worth. No nation therefore can judge as well as the
United States what German commerce means to the world.
In what condition are the finances of Germany? In this field our
opponents will be obliged to change their views. In 1912 Germany's
national debt was about 14 marks per capita lower than England's. The
public debt of France per capita was far more than double that of
Germany. Germany, however, has large national assets which offset its
liabilities. For example, the stocks of the Prussian railways alone
exceed by far the aggregate amount of the Prussian debt, the income of
the railways alone is essentially greater than the amount which the
interest and amortization of the entire State debt demand. The war,
which, according to the French conception, was destined to bring about
the financial and commercial ruin of Germany, has brought forth the
astonishing result that the famous French money market was the first to
fail in this crisis. As early as July 25, before the rejection of the
Austrian ultimatum by Servia had been made known, the offer of 3 per
cent. redeemable French notes to the French Exchange was so great that
the Chambre Syndicale des Agents de Change in the interest of the public
prohibited the quotation of a lower rate than 78 per cent., while bids
of 74 per cent. had already been submitted. Sale in blank was absolutely
forbidden, and in the coulisse business was at a standstill. A few days
later the July liquidation, in the official market as well as in the
coulisse, was postponed until the end of August, which action proved the
necessity of a period of grace. On July 31 the French savings banks, at
the command of the Government, suspended daily payments and paid out
sums to the amount of 50 francs, fourteen days' notice being necessary.
The London money market, too, has hardly stood the war test. On July 30
the Bank of England was obliged to raise its rate of discount from 3 to
4 per cent., several days later to 8 per cent., and again after a few
days to the incredible rate of 10 per cent. In contrast to this the
President of the German Reichsbank was able, on the 1st of August, to
declare that the directorate, because of the strength of the Reichsbank
and the solid constitution of the German money market, did not consider
it necessary to follow England's example. The German Reichsbank has
therefore not exceeded the rate of 6 per cent. Worse yet was the fact
that England, on Aug. 2, was obliged to require grace on exchange, and
France, on Aug. 3, grace on its accounts-current and Lombard loans.
Although along with England and France, also Russia, Austria, Italy,
Belgium, and other nations required temporary credit, Germany
to date has not deemed it necessary to ask for time in meeting its
obligations. Savings banks, other banks and financial institutions are
meeting all demands without restriction. The fact that the English money
market, which up to the present time has been considered the financial
centre of international trade, has failed, will bring many a serious
thought to all commercial men interested in the world market.
German commerce has doubtless been temporarily injured by the war, but
the esprit de corps and organization which animate the German Nation are
not only a firm foundation for German commerce, but also a strong
support for the further development of the commerce and trade of the
entire civilized world, if, as we hope, peace soon be re-established.
* * * * *