Evening star., 1916-12-13
GERMAN FINANCES
RATED OPEN BOOK
Count Won Roedern Denies
Factors Relating to War Ex-
penditures Are Kept Secret.
REPLY To BRITISH CRITIC

I'LL IL ~ OnI IIOn Uni III
BERLIN, December 10, by wireless
to the Associated Press via SayvIl'e,
N f-Germany's war finances are an
open book from which an attentive
reader can learn the height of the
war expenditures. the maximum limit
OF the floating debt and details re-
garding war OUTLAWS of the federal
states and municipalities necessary for
forming a Judgment as to the sound
ness of Gernanys financial position"
This is the reply to T. McKinnon
Wood, the British financial secretary
to the treasury. of Count Won Roedern,
secretary of the imperial treasury
who. in an interview with the Asso-
ciated Press, the first and only inter-
view granted since he assumed direc-
tion of this highly important section
of Germany's war machine discussed
criticisms recently made by the Brit
ish financial secretary that Germany
was keeping secret essential factors
of the financial situation. and showed
how the figures are contained in the
accounts published by Germany.
Increase in Expenses Explained.
Owing to the war labor law and the
extension of the field of operations in
the Balkans, said Count Won Roedern
Germany's war expenditures. which had
averaged 2.1S1, 100000 marks monthly.
had somewhat increased, but he was
convinced that the necessary funds
could be obtained in the future as in
the past. upon long-term loans. and
present +
ing from this standard Germany policy
OF funding the war expenditures and
providing interest charges by taxa
tion. The projected application of the
proceeds OF the tax on war profits.
which in unofficial circles is estimated
at 3,00G,c0o,o00 marks 20 the reduction
OF the war debt. is only in form
departure from this principle. the tax
mentioned being nop-recurrent levy
of an extraordinary character, and not
regular revenue.
Count Won Roedern, like the business
men with whom the correspondent has
talked. secuted the possibility of Ger
n,.,n! en- id, King after the war on
policy of dumping, pointing to the
absence of denominations of manufac-
tured goods for sucn d purpose and the
expected high cost of raw materials at
the conclusion of the war preventive
factors. but declared that the restora-
tion of the normal exchange rate of
the mark would have been assisted by
ly owing to high prices and the simpler
scale of living introduced during the
war and partly because Germany. under
pressure of necessity, had learned to
use home substitutes for various raw
materials. or, as in the case of nitrate
fertilizer. to supplant imported articles
with home products maintained at con-
siderably lower cost.
British Viewpoint, He Says.
The British financial secretary"
said Count Won Roedern. naturally
presents the official British standpoint.
and l can understand why. in contrast
ing the German and British financial
arrangements, he paints our situation
In black .colors. .-s,-
The German government has been
publishing during the war statements
Of revenues and expenditures for the
preceding fiscal year. in exactly the
same fashion as before. namely. the
submission of the usual budget in the
re:chstag. This was done at the be-
ginning of 1915 and 1916. and will be
done again in 1917. The war expendi-
lures for the army and feet do not ap-
pear. it - true. in the budget estimates.
but their maximum can be obtained
from tie amount of war credits voted
by parliament. just as in England.
Great Britain does not publish de-
tailed account OF war expenditures any
more than does Germany.
Mr. Wood has declared that while we
publish the amount of our war loans we
conceal the floating obligations OF the
empire Whoever takes the trouble to
study carefully our financial arrange
nents will see, on the one hand, the total
war credits voted to the present. and on
the other hand the total long term loans,
the exact figures of the subscriptions
having been published. The difference
between the two sums represents a maxi
mum amount for which short-tern treas
ury certificates may be issued That
preached only on the eve of the grant OF
a new credit and is at present free from
being reached. since the previous credit
was authorized only last month. With
each of our five war loans We have been
able to convert the greater part of our
outstanding short-term obligations into
the funded loan scope. This will be the
case in the future.
Communes in Germany.
With respect 70 the communes in Ger
many. the secretary said
Il will only repeat what l recently said
in the reichstag. that the empire is re-
funding to the eommunes one-fourth of
their expenditures for war relief. the sum
TINS repaid being roughly 100000 900
marks This statement makes it possible
TO establish the sum hitherto expended by
the communes for family relief Thus you
see. information on these supposedly Sc
cret items can easily be obtained
In attempting to compare Engiand's 8
achievements in taxation with German
conditions. the material difference in the
systems must be taken into account Since
Bismarcks tire the principle followed by
Germany has been that war expenditures
should be covered first not by taxes. but
by loans. We have followed this course
with the result that 1900 900. 900 marks