Dr. Schacht's New Year Message Writing last week in the
Deutsche Volkszoirt, Dr. Schacht demanded of the " possessor nations " a more realistic and " dynamic" foreign policy ; by this he means a policy which will give the " have-nots " the means of existence which they profess to lack. In one sense at least Dr. Schacht's appeal is justified. He remarks that economically the world has much fewer reserves with which to face a crisis than in 1929, and that prosperity can only be secured by forethought and by concerted measures to promote the healthy economic life of nations. This is true on a national and an international scale ; but Dr. Schacht gives very little indication of how it is to be applied in practice. " Germany," he says, " has proved her desire for peace often enough " and he hopes that in the New Year other nations will show theirs. The statement is typical of an attitude which will wreck all hope of what Dr. Schacht professes to desire. In recent years Germany has given very few proofs of her desire for peace, and even fewer of a desire to build up a healthy and stable economic life ; and her assumption that, in adjusting the inequalities that undoubtedly exist between various nations, everything must be done for her, nothing by her, is the despair of all who wish to correct the injustices from which she may suffer. Armaments are a curious proof of a desire for peace ; Germany's demand for the means of existence sometimes sus- piciously resembles a demand for the means of aggression.
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