The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-07-10
~ RAPHEAL GEORGES LEVY.
s1lAe Well. French Acadcmician
and Economis.
Copyright. 1917. by International News
Service.

Paris. June 90. thy maiD.--The
time has arrived when thorough
examination can be made OF Ger
mAny's economical and financial situa e
I ton after nearly three years OF war.
The following summary Of the situa-
Il tt0n Is based entirely on. Germa II
! sources OF Information, SO that it cam
\ not be said to be biased review
unless, indeed, In Germanys favor
The conclusion is irresistible. The
4 premature predictions OF our enemy's
exhaustion which were made in 1914
and 1915 can To-Day he safely for
mulated The hour of the collapse Of
the economic edif-o Of the Central
Empires IS fast approaching
From the industrial viewpoint,
Germany has had TO dificulty in
maint7i1iae the activity of her metal
trades during the war. because she has
considerable resources IN coal and has
1Aen able to Implement her iron ore
supplies from the deposits in Luxem-
burg an the French basin Of Briey.
which her troops occupy The rise in
prices OF .oal. steel and even Of GER
tain manufactures, including locomo-
tiyes and cars Is small compared with
the increase that has occurred in
France But e host IF other Industries
are held Up owing TO the diflculty or
tnapossihility OF obtaining raw mate
rials. such as cotton wool. SIX, tnaay
metals. etc
Foreign Trade >one
From the commercial viewpoint
the blow which our enemy has sIs-
fAtEad has hcan stNfte- Little Is left.
OF those foreign trade relations whose
INCREASING volume was Germany 5
pride and places her second ~ the
Enri6 scala Ira-laG14teiN after Great
Britain More thea two-thrds of
Gerraany's exports went to countries
which are now At Ny with her. and
while she was able 10 continue her
trade with contiguous neutral coun-
tries, do not believe the volume Of
ma, trade hes increased in the course
of the war 10 anN great extent
The only prosperous workshops n
Germany now are those working fo-
the army md nav ErHpps Of
course. arc IN fun swirl and have
started Z big branch near Munich. The
building OF cars ard locomotive IS
active. Bat great number ef other
plants are shut down.
Potash Industr5 gtrickcn.
One OF %th0 humorous German in
6ustries suffering from thc war ie
that Of potash The expectation OF
which has been considerably re-
duced In January last me Frank
futer zeltunr ala rot hesitate 70 de-
clare tina; COMPANIES owning potash
concessions were following ar ad-
ventnrous policy instead Ut husband
ing their resources az they would do
in peace time The value ~ the pot
ash output which exc sAaed $50 600. -
600 yearly has fallen 20 half that
figure
The intervention Of thn empire was
tardy and vit.etod by the fact that
individual confedcrated states have
their own interests IN the potash de-
posts The capital tied up in these
undertakings is very considcSa biz
bat the dividend yield is small
There has lately been some talk Of
an imperial monopoly of potash bat
X the companies stocka ware taken
over at present prices on the Enurse
the reSul would he derorahle fer the
public finances If ~ the other hand
the com panies r1erel~ received paw
ment on the basis o. ne real value Of
their potash deposits they would
sustain IN enormous loss
T ~ TOW Germans baVe had a
saeneRely in potash h=t such. wHl
cAase fo be the case wnen We have
obtained the retrocesaion Of Alsace-
Lorraine with its huge potash re-
sources
Financial Exhaustion Near.
The effect Of Germsn-.s poor n
dustrial situation a. course. seen
in her financial AMI ns"n~tary position
With most foreign r,1st <ct@ ,~icse1 -
her and unable 10 aeeure creatfs
abroad, her hanknote has deprecated
rapidly She has made sd national
.eans sha has increased her own rc-
Fourees by inca rs Of eNactons puaee
and thefts of all kinds through tine
medium Of her armies bur e't the
same size IS appFpa ah+Fe taa ;tn4n
when she NIL ind Il .nCrcas inE,s dlf-
S1cult to md tho money she requires
for FER own needs and those Of her
allies
The German imperial debt Is to-
day about twelve tunes What y was
on August J 1918, when the total was
t1.2s0, eco, 000
Since the war began the expendl-
:. ture OF the empire mas aeured IN a
& separate bulge te2 bv loans and con-
stituted by rirture of parliamentary
APPROPRIATE votes the total of
which nov reaches sta 80, 100000
b. the law OF August I. 1914, the
chancellor was authorized TO issue
epng and short-term notes I'd to
41.2feooo.00 The empires metallic
ressrves-as0oo 600 ooo gold and SIS
ooo,oeo silver--was also turned over
10 this extraordtnary budget
The ordinary budgets have been
maintained throushoGr the war pretty
much on the lires Of the peace
budgets. The ordinary budget for
1915 was for 4 total OF 1881 600 900. or
1000 600 lower than the preceding
budget. a great pr RI If the expendi-
ture on the army ard navy no longer
figured on this budget, but. on the
other hand il had 70 carry more than
$3.50. 900. 600 az tnterest charges for
the national debt
Customs Deception.
The most astonishing feature 81 the
1915 budget was the sum Of s11S 00o,-
900 credited az customs revenue mrs
was the figure in the 1914 budget yet
owning to the war Cermany's world
trade had ceased since. The extraor-
binary war expenditure allowed for in
the 1915 budget was s2.5io.500 600
The ordinary part of the imperial
budget for 1918 totalled seI4750. 600
Customs receipts continued 10 figure
{ At $i7s, 00o.e00. Expenditure on army
and navy. except for a residue Of s12-
100000 entirely disappeared from the
ordinary budget, but ~ bu6ren un-
I der the heading Of interest charges
for the national debt increased by
$25T.000. 900 The extraordinary war
4 expenditure rose this year 70 81 500
100000 to be covered by loans
Mounting Costs
The imSerial budget for 1917 was
presented IN February last Its total