OCR Text |
Show SCREWS TIGHTENED. Cn'lrr authority nonfrrfil hv the trailing tlio oiimv a'-t Pi-csi-it'nt Wilson l,as blacklisted 1G00 firms in t.wr-nty South and Central American countries. Ultimately the inhibition will extend to all countries in the world ana firms openly or secretly aiding Germany Ger-many in this war of wars will not enjoy the trade of any American citizen if the- government at "Washington is able to prevent it. The struggle is against Oermnn domination in every w'ay, shape and manner and the supporters of the imperialistic, autoiratic idea that the Teuton rulers are advocating Trill be compelled to shut up shop in all parts of the globe. In recent years the commerce of Germany Ger-many had been increasing so rapidly that this year, had the war not broken ont meanwhile, it would have surpassed tho trade of Great Britain. The advance ad-vance was made by devious ways and the prices were such that they could not ho met by British and American firms unless subsidized by tho government. govern-ment. Tt was unfair competition, but tho Gormans were slowly but none the: less surely winning their way in all the markets of the world. At a single blow tho foreign trado of Germany was almost al-most wiped out. Upon the declaration of war tho British and French fleets established a blockade, the German merchant mer-chant marine was swept from the high seas and the trade of the Teutons confined con-fined to contiguous countries. This remnant of their former commercial glorj' is helpful to some extent because iron ore is obtained in Sweden and a limited amount of foodstuffs in some of the other countries. The balance is against Germany, however, and tho Berlin Ber-lin government must pay for what it gets. The Central powers will come out of the war with, comparatively few merchant mer-chant vessels and without trade connections connec-tions of any cousequence in any quarter of the globe. They will be compelled to start all over again and build from the ground up. It will be slow work at best and when we consider tbe fact that German firms will be objects of suspicion sus-picion and distrust for many years to come it is easy to figure out the chances. The Berlin government has repeatedly re-peatedly charged that Great Britain entered the war to annihilate German trade. While there is not a shadow of truth in the charge and no evidence to support it, the fact remains that the trade of the Teutons has practically ceased to exist as a result of the war. This applies to the firms doing business in the home country. President Wilson Wil-son s order will put thft finishing touches on tho trade of the Germans doing business in foreign lands. |