Now that the German military penetration of Rumania has become undisguised occupation, it is interesting to see how the Hitlerian doctrine of securing entrance into a country by force or fraud has been carried out in this particular case. For that purpose it is not necessary to go further back than the beginning of December last when, it will be Yemembered, Germany and Rumania signed a 10-year pact for economic reconstruction of the latter. The agreement resulted from talks which General Antonescu, the Rumanian Conducator, had with German officials when he was summoned to Berlin to sign his country's adherence to the Three Power Pact, According to "The Times" the preamble to the agreement stated that the Rumanian Government applied to the German Govern-tent for their support and ce-operation, and that the German Government declared themselves willing to grant technical and financial support in all fields of economic life for the restoration of Rumania. It is probably nearer the truth to state that Rumania, if she ever made any such application, was constrained to do so by German pressure, for her entry into the tripartite pact meant that she came completely under German domination, and that this preamble is merely a piece of the big window dressing.
provisions of the 10-year pact are interesting, and the following is a summary published by "The Times":—
Under the agreement, as announced, Germany will grant comprehensive long-term credits to Rumania. The existing co-opera tion for intensifying and raising production in agriculture and forestry will be continued, and Germany will provide equipment and machinery necessary for the development of Rumanian agriculture, as well as the capital needed for the draining of marshland and other irrigation.
"With a view to the systematic promotion of industrial production in the framework of the new economic order in Europe, Germany, in. accordance with the 10-year plan, will place her technical and financial aid. Rumania's disposal." Under the plan Rumania will develop and extend her means of communication—railways, roads, and pipelines—to her "natural economic markets within the framework of the new European order." Germany will provide supplies to carry out this PiGermany declares herself willing, in ad-lan.
dition to giving long-term credits, to place capital at Rumania's disposal for the development of Rumanian industry and the bank and credit system on the basis of private economic ce-operation, and to provide agricultural, industrial, and other experts "in accordance with Rumania's wishes."
"Both Governmerts will pay due regard, in their political and trade relations with each other, to assuring that Rumanian products are disposed of on the German market at fixed prices independent of economic crises, and that the importance of the Rumania market for German trade will be increased.
"Both Governments note with satisfaction that German-Rumanian ce-operation has already begun in all fields. They are determined to assure the fruitful continuation of this ce-operation in the interests of both peoples."
It will be seen that the whole Rumanian economic scheme is to be based upon the premise that all Rumanian trade shall centre upon German requirements, and that she shall fill her own needs in the German markets at prices having no relation to real values but to what Germany thinks they should be-Thus the whole economy of the country is just as clearly subordinated to the convenience of the Germans, as its territory and people are now bound in the shackles which Hitler has succeeded in placing upon them so painlessly. Forced to surrender parts of its territory to Hungary, Bulgaria, and Russia by the German insistence upon the preservation of peace in the Balkans, Rumania has been reduced to the status of an economic, military, and political appanage of the Reich and has as much independence as has, say, Holland. In the meantime the Rumanians are suffering the depredations of the soldiery who are purchasing everything available with the worthless German marks, with which other countries under occupation have been plundered. They have been reduced to the common bond of misery to which occupied Europe has been reduced. They have been as completely enslaved as if they had been defeated after a resistance such as that which Poland offered, and they, and their resources are being milked dry in precisely the same manner as countries further to the north. Bulgaria is in a fair way to following suit. Penetration is already in progress, and it may be confidently asserted that even if they wished to do so, the Bulgarian Government is now in no position to resist. The visits of Yugoslav ministers to Germany suggests that the same process is about to be applied to them, and the Balkan states, if Yugoslavia falls into line, will see again repeated the process of permanent spoliation for, Germany's irhmediate benefit.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.