The Washington herald., 1920-01-30
FALL OF MARK
BELOW A CENT
CAUSES PANIC
Germany on Very Edge Of
Abyss Of Collapsing F.
nancial System.
ALL EUROPE ALARMED
ALL EUROPE ALARMED
Scramble for American
Money as Bankruptcy
Is Anticipated.

Berlin, Jan. 29.-Germany is bal
ancing on the very edge of a
precipice, above the abyss of ma
tional, economic and financial col
lapse. which Is certain to be fol-
lowed by far reaching interna-
tional reverberations in the finan-
cial world.
The next thirty days-possibly
the coming week-may determine
whether the war which was won
by America anu the allies in five
years will be completely lost to
them in as many months in the
sixth year.
That Is the unacceptable impress
sion one gets here in the vortex of
the Central European political
economical whirlpool. All indica-
tions here point to the Versailles
treaty revenging itself upon its
makers with a rapidity that even
the most vengeful German nation
alists hardly anticipated.
| Goes Lower In Holland.
The most portentions shadow
coming events have cast before
them is the new drop of the Ger
man mark, which touched / cent
here and went even lower in CO.
logne and in Holland, where 1t
! dropped to y of a cent.
For the first time the confidence
| of the Germans themselves in
| their own money is beginning to
disappear. as is shown by the wild
scramble for foreign money at any
price, especially American. Swiss,
Dutch. Danish and Swedish.
The talk of the street today is
how many days it will be before
national bankruptcy is admitted.
The government is helplessly
! drifting in the grip Of forces quite
! beyond its control. Unless out
side help comes-and comes at
once-the conclusion is inevitable
that it viii be only matter of
the rocks and breaks up.
With the realization that il cannot
of itself alter tibet course Of impend-
,, ing events. wilhelmstrasse has been
struck by something of the az >-ay Of
last spring. The toboganning of the
exchange has cut off all importations.
practically making the new blockade
air-tight.
Food Situation Near Crisis.
Reports from unofficial sources con-
! inue to emphasize that the food situ-
alton is nearing a catastrophical
| crisis. The government, however, ap-
pears to have adopted the policy of
the old regime of not taking the peo-
| pie into its confidence, but keeping
them in the dark, as Ludendorff dur
| ing the war, for much the same rea-
! sons. namely, that the remaining
morale must not be weakened and
! shattered by a pessimistic outlook.
however true
/ A sort of grim consolation is found
| in the slumping of the pound sterling
! and tibet decline of the French franc
as compared with the dollar. This,
indeed, is taken as proof positive that
the German mark is one of the irre-
! movable units of the European eco
| nomic complex.
! In some quarters national bank
, ruptcy is not considered the worst
evil for Germany. Those who profess
that view declare that 1t would spell
utter defeat for the victors and force
q revision of the Versailles treaty
could.
Credit or Collapse.
: Both the radicals and the Nation
alists have an additional mental
angle, which is that bankruptcy would
also sweep away the present German
government.
The government appears to have
still lingering hope that the situation
! is rapidly nearing the point where
the European powers will forget their
animosities and get together in an
endeavor to saev all through con-
certed efforts.
I A high government official summed
up the situation this afternoon in
these words:
/ Unless we get credits for food and
raw materials, Il is only a question
of time when our collapse will be in