IV. The Contact Man
Chapter IV
THE CONTACT MAN
“A curious new business aide … is now all-important.”
THE business organization of private enterprise has had to be reorganized in accordance with the new state of things. Departments which previously were the heart of a firm have become of minor importance. Other departments which either did not exist or which had only auxiliary functions have become dominant and have usurped the real functions of management.
V. Raw Material Distribution
Chapter V
RAW MATERIAL DISTRIBUTION
“Wood, for example, has been used largely as ersatz for other more valuable raw materials, such as metals. But wood and timber in turn have become so scarce that the use of wood for numerous purposes not directly connected with armaments and not immediately necessary is verboten.”
VI. Price Dictatorship and Private Initiative
Chapter VI
PRICE DICTATORSHIP AND PRIVATE INITIATIVE
“Effective price restrictions are impossible without complete control over supply and demand.”
HOW cunning ingenuity and “private initiative” circumvent official rules in a country under totalitarian rule can be illustrated by the way in which a dealer bought a pig from a peasant in Nazi Germany.
VII. Industrial Group Leaders
Chapter VII
INDUSTRIAL GROUP LEADERS
“Official communications now make up over half of a German manufacturer’s entire correspondence.”
WALTER FUNK, Reich Minister of Economics
VIII. The “Factory Leader” and his Followers
Chapter VIII
THE “FACTORY LEADER” AND HIS FOLLOWERS
“I urgently need some mechanics, but I am not allowed to engage anyone unless he can show me his ‘labor book’ and a permit from the Labor Exchange to change his job.”
IN ONE of the uncensored letters a German industrialist wrote to a friend of his, he described industrial labor relations in Germany today. His views are commonly held by many other German industrialists.
My dear Mr.…
IX. Industrial Investment Policies
Chapter IX
INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENT POLICIES
“Not even from Krupp would Goering take ‘no’ for an
answer.”
X. Bankers as State Officials
Chapter X
BANKERS AS STATE OFFICIALS
“The totalitarian State will not have an empty treasury
so long as private companies or individuals still have
ample cash or liquid assets.”
XI. The Stock Exchange and Speculation under Fascism
Chapter XI
STOCK EXCHANGE AND SPECULATION UNDER FASCISM
“The ‘Aryan’ members of the Berlin Stock Exchange have
lost much more than they gained by the removal of the
‘Non-Aryans.’ “
XII. “Self-Sufficiency” through Ersatz
Chapter XII
“SELF-SUFFICIENCY” THROUGH ERSATZ
“Much technical genius and hard work have gone into adapting the industrial machine to the use of ersatz. The results have been disappointing—huge investments to produce inferior articles at higher prices.”
XIII. From World Trade to Trade Warfare
Chapter XIII
FROM WORLD TRADE TO TRADE WARFARE
“The Greeks have to accept payment in mouth organs or radio sets, and in such large quantities that their demand for these articles could be satisfied for many years to come. Optical instruments which the Nazi Reich could not export elsewhere were offered to the Bulgarian peasants.”
