TIGER' MORGENTHAU'S MADNESS
Clair, Louis
Tiger' Morgenthau's Madness GERMANY IS OUR PROBLEM, by Henry Morgenthau, Jr. Harper. $2.75. Reviewed by Louis Clair IT is a wry commentary on present democratic procedures that this document,...
...But this is hidden under pages upon pages of falsifications of the simplest statistical data...
...He forgets to mention that the large landed estates are mainly East of the Oder-Neisse line and have thus been taken away from Germany through the Potsdam Decisions...
...Morgenthau has taken due notice: He presents a plan that purports to be in the interest not only of the victorious United Nations, but in the interests of the German people as well...
...The book obviously is written for the "men in the street" with a twinkle of the eye for the expert: "Well, you know, for them you've got to lay it on a bit thick" —which makes for another wry .commentary on the strength of the democratic convictions of a long-time high official of the U. S. government...
...Of this, Mr...
...1. The size of his new farms will be 12 acres, which he proclaims to be quite sufficient to support a family...
...The list could be continued indefinitely...
...3. Morgenthau admits that though the Hitler regime made extraordinary efforts to attain self-sufficiency in food stuffs it never succeeded and had to continue food imports...
...The book is written for the uninformed person with the aim to befuddle him even more than he is already...
...Yet anybody who knows anything about agriculture knows that the yield per acre of most crops is smaller on small farms than on large ones—therefore, agricultural produce in the future would be lower and not higher than in the past...
...4. Morgenthau wants to make us believe that it is...
...possible to eliminate the heavy industry of a country without in any way changing the structure of the rest of the economy...
...5. Morgenthau proposes that all Germans should be driven from the Ruhr valley, their place in the mines to be taken by French, Belgian, Dutch, and other workers...
...He says that it would be comparatively easy to increase yields by more intensive farming methods...
...Trick No...
...Disraeli, I think, once said that there are three sorts of lies: lies by affirmation, lies by omission, and statistics...
...Has anybody in America seen a family farm of 12 acres ? Well, in Germany also a reasonable size of a farm which can support a family is about 35 acres on the average...
...Our latter-day "Tiger" thinks that there are 25 million Germans too many but what he really means is to transform the European continent into a huge colony ad majorem gloriam of U. S. Big Business...
...Times were when democracy consisted in discussion before making decisions...
...ALL his measures supposedly will not only assure eternal peace and happiness to the world but they also will guarantee a peaceful and happy future to the Germans...
...When Clemenceau uttered his famous phrase about the 25 million Germans too many, he shocked American public opinion...
...Trick No...
...In fact, I cannot imagine that Morgenthau expected to be taken seriously by any one conversant even with elementary economics...
...This comparison may indeed be not wholly fortuitous...
...In fact, it is obvious that elimination of heavy industry means phantastic dislocations in other industries and elimination of millions of other jobs...
...2. Where is the land for even the millions of 12 acre farms to come from...
...But he'nevertheless wants Germany not only to become self-sufficient but even to export food stuffs to pay for all the necessary imports of raw materials and products of heavy industry...
...In fact, Morgenthau's aims are exactly those of Clemenceau: for him too there are 25 million Germans too many...
...The author performs all sorts of startling juggler's tricks to accomplish this miracle...
...TRICK No...
...Not one of the arguments can stand up in the light of inquiry— but they are not meant to...
...The truth is that the French, Belgians, and Dutch don't even have enough miners to exploit their own mines...
...The author prefers discussions only at a time when they must remain purely academic...
...Reviewed by Louis Clair IT is a wry commentary on present democratic procedures that this document, which has been the main basis for American policies concerning Germany and for the Potsdam Declaration, is fully made known to the American public only after all decisions have already been made...
...Trick No...
...Therefore Morgenthau's proposal amounts to the complete elimination of Europe's main coal production center, i.e., to the partial de-industrialization not only of Germany but of the rest of Europe...
...Morgenthau's "Statistics": Morgenthau wants to eliminate all German heavy industry and to resettle the surplus population of many millions on the land...
...What Morgenthau proposes means catastrophe not only for Germany but for the entire continent...
...Morgenthau affirms: "Mostly from splitting up of the landed estates...
...Here are some of Mr...
...The advertisements for this book state that "No book since Mein Kampf has offered the American people information so important to their survival...
...It is not written for serious discussion...
...ADE-INDUSTRIALIZED Germany means a weakened Europe, because the whole of Europe's economy is dependent on German industry...
...Trick No...
...But where is the land to come from since large slices of Germany will be cut off, while the population will remain the same...
Vol. 9 • December 1945 • No. 49
