pose: and even if it failed in
this case to come forward, the money required would certainly be
advanced out of the indemnity which will have to be provided for the
invaded provinces, or would be guaranteed in some other way by the
Government concerned. In which case Trade, even after the conclusion of
peace, would rejoice in another period of Government contracts. If it be
admitted, however, that we have not sufficient data to make this
suggestion more than probable, we can at any rate be certain of the
effect produced by the mere numbers of an invading army or a defensive
garrison. The Jewish traders of Salonica enjoyed a time of unexampled
prosperity in 1912 and 1913, owing to the mere presence of the Turkish,
the Greek and the Bulgarian armies, to whom they sold out at their own
prices.[49] They are now repeating the process with the English and
French armies; and in the interval they were kept busy restocking the
Macedonian villages depleted or destroyed during the campaign of 1912.
As for the small shopkeepers of Flanders any member of the British
Expeditionary Force will tell you that they are at present so prosperous
that even a German bombardment will hardly drive them from their
counters.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 48: Since this chapter was written I have seen a pamphlet with
the following title: "The Chance for British Firms in the Rebuilding of
Belgium, by a Belgian Contractor. London, Technical Journals, Limited,
27-29 Tothill Street, Westminster."]

Sec. 7

The Luxury Trades don't do so badly

The most obvious if not the only exception to our tale of war profits is
to be found in the case of the parasitic industries which specialise in
the production of the unnecessary. It is not easy rigidly to define the
luxury trade, for the luxury of one generation is the necessity of the
next; but it is enough to suggest a broad idea of the industries that
fall under this heading. "The income-tax assessments show," says _The
Times_,[50] speaking of Berlin after nine months of war, "that among the
trades which have suffered most are fruiterers, breweries,
public-houses, bars, cafes, chemists and perfumers, goldsmiths and
silversmiths, jewellers, milliners, furniture and piano dealers, and
music and booksellers. Landowners, land speculators, builders and the
carrying trade have also suffered." We may also notice that in the early
months of the war Florence, the great market of the shoddy "souvenir"
and the "touris