Germany's Trade The unemployment and trade statistics published in Germany
this week must be a source of considerable satis- faction to the German Government. The unemployment figures may be open to doubt ; as they stand, they show that at the end of October unemployment had fallen, since a year ago by 575,000 to a total of 502,000, of whom only 87,000 are fully capable of employment. But it is curious to compare this figure with the millions who are in receipt, and presumably in need, of winter relief. The trade figures also are satisfactory. In the first nine months of the year imports rose by 06,500,000 ; the increase is no doubt largely due to the greater ease in obtaining supplies of iron ore. Since exports of iron and steel have fallen sharply, such supplies must be consumed chiefly in home production.. Exports in the same period rose by k64,000,000. The export surplus in the first nine months was 321,co3,000 marks, compared with 319,000,000 marks in the same period of last year. Germany's foreign trade is based upon a system of direct subsidies to exports ; so long as their inflationary effects do not become uncontrolled there seems no reason why the system should not be permanently workable, and indeed, despite its disadvantages, it may prove to have elements of stability at present lacking in systems of com- paratively free exchange.
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