The New York herald., 1921-10-23


seemed to me. and it seems still,
good arrangement. Certainly It is
good for France, because she will re-
ceive real wealth in solid things in
stead of money, which is only
symbol of real things.
This agreement will help make
better relations between the two
countries and so promote peace in
Europe to some extent. But 1t will
not tend, I find, to stabilize the value
of the mark, for Germany will use
her printing presses again to pay
her own people for their labor and to
pay manufacturers. with the ineyita-
BILE consequence that further depre-
citation in the mark will follow. This
will mean trouble with the workers,
who will find. as they are already
finding. that their wages are worth
less in purchasing power. They will
demand more wages to keep pace
with the rise in prices.
The first sign of this new crisis is
seen by the strike Of walters through
out Berlin. 1t has been an extraor-
binary experience for city which
is more dependent on it's hotels and
restaurants than London or New
York. With a few exceptions like
the Hotel Adlon, which Immediately
ogreed to the new scale of wages
demanded by the walters, all these
places were closed and picketed.
I could not get room in any hotel,
and was billeted for a small board
ing house, where am charged eighty
marks for room That is cheap for
Berlin, but my landlord told me that
before the war he charged only four
marks for the same room. He ex-
planned to me with great deal of
detail regarding taxes and the cost Of
living that he was far better off when
he charged four marks than now,
when he charged eighty, and I be-
lieve him.
Germans' Moral Advantage.
At the same time the Germans have
a great moral advantage over other
people. Their defeat made every man
among them expect a lower standard
of living than before the war, whereas
our victory made men expect a
higher standard of living, which is
impossible, owing to the loss of world
wealth.
Again, the Germans lived the last
year of the war in state of hunger
and privation, whereas the victor
Peoples lived we'll as long as the war
lasted. So the Germans. comparing
their present state, however much it
pinches, with their war condition,
find it far more tolerable.
1t seems to me also that as a ma
tion they get more enjoyment out Of
a meagre margin above the bare
necessities of life than the English
people do with bigger margin.
Their climate. gardens, cities, munich
pal theatres and opera houses enable
them to get cheap pleasure. These
things must be taken into account in
the sum Of life, but when that has
been done my reckoning Of Germany
is that her financial state is thor
oughly unsound, and before long she
will face a desperate financial crisis.
There are ways in which she may
partly avert this. One way is to in
crease the national revenue by an
international loan and by taxation of
the industrial profits of the big
trusts. So far the State does not
reap enough benefit from private
wealth and the big industrials and
export trade. DR.. Wirth, German
Chancellor, is endeavoring to arrange
this by forming a coalition of all the
parties in the State, with the support
of industrial magnates like Hugo
SHINES and August Thyssen, for
higher basis Of taxation.
Export Duties Suggested.
Another method which Germany
will be wise If she adopts is the i'm
position Of export duties. Her under
selling Of all countries by the low
value Of the mark in foreign ex-
change will arouse a hostility of
world traders and governments and
will inevitably put up a barrier of
traffic against her imports, in which
case her commerce will be set back.
Great Britain, for instance, is grow
ing alarmed because German manu-
facturers are killing many OF her
markets. Germany needs the good
will Of the nations and cannot afford
to risk commercial boycott.
In any case, Germany will have an
immense advantage over her COM
mercial rivals, because her people
are willing to endure a low wage
standard and low scale Of living,
whereas the British and Americans
will struggle to preserve high wages
until the general poverty Of the world
forces them back. There Is a point.
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