w German mark may seem to mean the
ruin of English manufacturers, but we ought to bear in mind that there
is no nation more direly in need of international help than this same
fearsome Germany. The trade slump is great, but it is perhaps only the
beginning. People ignorantly blame the strikers, but many
manufacturers have secretly not been sorry for the strikes. The
strikes have damped down production. They have brought down wages,
they have not raised them. It is of little use going on producing
great quantities of goods for which there is at present no market, and
no use producing above the European market price. It would be truer to
say that the strikes are partly the result of the depression. Most of
the strikes have been caused by "cuts" in wages. Wages have been
sought to be reduced in order to turn out cheaper products and so be
able to compete with other cheap European goods. The secret of the
obduracy of the coal-owners has lain in the fact that British coal
costs more than the world-price per ton. The difference in price could
be put on to the private consumer but there are limits to his means of
purchasing. It is impossible to do more trade with the consumer. The
main coal business is with the factory and the ship, and these compete
in world-markets for their own business. All want to keep the cost of
production low in order to compete with the countries of low exchange.

The European exchange is proving to be the most vital matter for
English trade. Its irregularities reflect the irregularities of our
Europe and they must be met. An equality of values must somehow be
obtained, and it could be obtained in a spirit of general friendship
and good-will. Great sacrifices would be necessary from rich people of
all the nations concerned, and large schemes of revenge and punishment
would have to be abandoned. But in doing so we should all save one
another; in not doing so we are likely all to ruin one another.

LETTERS OF TRAVEL

XVII. FROM PARIS

France is the mainspring of the new mechanism, and Paris the control.
That is why I chose to go to Paris last--so that all, even London,
could be related to her. The initiative in European politics is taken
by France and she has the most active policy. Most other States wait
to see what France is doing and shape their policies accordingly.
London is generally in opposition to Paris, but English action is so
sluggish and so independable that eve