New-York tribune., 1921-12-06
Indemnity ss1.45s,s0o, 900


The total German indemnity is tSs
Coo,o0o,o00 gold marks. equivalent to
s3l ASS, 500, 600. This debt is covered 4
by bonds of three series-A, B and c.,
of which only A and 8 have been is
sued. The total of Class and Class
bonds, amounting to $4,000, 900 600
requires An annual service in interest
and sinking fund OF approximately
S7l4.900.00o. To cover this sum a fixed
annual payment of s476600,o00 is re-
CURED, payable July Is, October Is,
January Is and April 10, and in addi-
tlon sum equal to &c per cent of the
value Of German exports, payable on
May 10, August Is, November Is and
February Is, each year. The payments
may be in gold or foreign exchange. or
IN goods, as may be arranged.
The total payments which were to
have been made during the reparation
nscal year ending April 80, 1922, were
estimated at 1851 .2T3, 900. Of this sum
payments Of S23S, 500, 900 were to be
made in cash. s119,150,0O0 in goods and
Sl2,0o0,000 by collections in Great Brit
ain under the (reparation) recovery
act, which provides that 26 per cent
OF the value of goods imported from
Germany be paid by the British i'm
porter to his government, to be credited
~ 0ci many. he total amount from
these three sources is S369,00O 900. The
cash payments of s23s $500. 900, COM
pleted on August 81. included about
sos, 100000 secured abroad on SPECIAL
short term credits, with the pledge
that they be repaid before April 90,
1922. '''
Inc balance remaining on the total
amount due this year. after the pay
ment OF the 1859 100000, amounts to
S2s1 900 600, which also was TO be PRO
vided for before April so, 1922.
The decline in the value of the Ger
man mark, normally worth 23.S cents
oetore the war. to a fraction Of a
cent and. perhaps, ''the vanishing
point has greatly complicated the
financial outlook of every nation in
the world.
The "tobogganing" of the mark has
been attributed by German hnanciers
to the forced payments on the Allied
reparations Of s33,75O, ,o0O, coo. while
others see in their almost negligible
value the result of unsound finance,
cuttnroat export sales and the rush Of
the German masses to the stores to ex-
change their almost worthless currency
tor any and every kind of commodity.
German printing presses have been so
busy putting out paper marks (1O,9l5.-
"oUtooO were ISSUED IN one recent
month"; that some of the currency has
appeared engraved on only ore side.
1t has been said that Germany does
not possess one-half Of l per cent of
the gold required to meet her tons and
tons of paper obligations. Represent
atlveS OF the government of France,
as an Indication of this, recently ar
ranged terms with Germany at con-
ference IN Wiesbaden by which Ger
many agreed to deliver seven billion
gold marks worth of building material.
German bankers have repeatedly urged
the necessity for an international con-
ference and the declaration of three
year moratorium TO enable Germany to
recover her equilibrium.
Many Allied economists, however.
maintain that the depreciation of the
mark has been artifcially brought
about by the imagination and trickery
OF German financiers. They point out
that Germany is much more prosperous
III comparison with other European
countries and that, while there is a
great contrast between the extremes
of wealth and poverty in Germany,
speculators are making millions and
nearly every one is at work, even if at
low wages.
Prior to the war German marks in
New York We're third in Importance In
foreign exchange transactions, the
British pound sterling and the French
franc being first and second, respec-
rive11y