Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-09-19
WORK ANDLOW
WAGES ON RHINE
GET CUT PRICES
Germans Able to Compete
With World Because of
Borrowed Capital.
WARNING TO AMERICA
Special to Indiana Daily Times
and Philadelphia Public Ledger.
By C. b. EVANS.

By G. B. EVANS.
CHICAGO, Sept 19.-Out of the re-
ports of tourists who have returned from
Germany, Americans get much valuable
information Of affairs in that distressed
country, but the conclusions they draw
therefrom are not always logical or in
accordance with facts. All the way
along since Europe created an inflated
paper currency it has been thought that
that part of the world had an advantage
over the United States for that reason.
Indeed, some Of the British statesmen
have been quoted as taking that view. 1t
has been said that the advance in prices
caused by this imitation prevented i'm
ports into the inflated countries and By
so much conserved the resources Of tAe
people This doubtless has teen an adj
vantage in the way of curtailing the con-
sumption Of luxuries by Europeans, but
the merchandise that they get from the
United States does not consist Of lux
uries in the main, but Of raw materials
which are needed In the manufactures.
The old processes could not go on and
wealth in Europe increase without such
material. Stopping or curtailing trade Is
not commonly considered a method Of
enriching the people. Germany has been
held up to us as the most striking ex-
ample Of the tremendous advantage
Of cheap and demoralized exchange, but
if one looks just a little way under the
surface he can see that it Is not a bad
currency, not a segregation of Germans
from the United States, that has caused
revival Of industry, but work pure and
simple. Cheap money has little to do
with the matter, for that money must be
converted into the world unit at great
70 he hnII p h. a
the testimony of all recent investigators
In Germany that, under the coercion Of
necessity, the people are working as even
Germans never worked before Moreover,
they are willing to work for almost any
wage they can get, however small, and
by as much as these wages are lower
than those of other countries By so
much can they compete successfully in
the world markets.
MARK HAS
LOW VALUE
1t is claimed. TOO, that the low valus
mark does not injure the Germans them
selves, inasmuch as this unit is simply a
ken used as a means of keeping the
record of tran ctions, almost like book
Of accounts. 1t is we'll known, however,
that such money tends constantly toward
the valuation set on it by the world mar
trated in the recent decline Of this unit
even for purposes of the home trade.
Naturally the more there is Of 1t the less
will a given portion of il buy.
An inflated paper currency is BAD,
nothing but bad, for all concerned. The
Germans are too good bankers to have
chosen this device as an economic
resource; they were simply driven to IT
There was possibly some other method,
= : 80 70 an
When a man is hard up" he borrows
from a friend The Reichsbank has bor-
rowed from the public and the indebted
ness has been growing constantly till It
has passed eighty billion marks. No
body has yet been able to say how this
money will be redeemed and reputation
is frequently mentioned as the only re-
sort. though what next would be the
money source nobody is able to tell. and
probably reputation would mean reTolu-
ton.
That Germany is now put TO its
truups to nay one of the earlier install
ments of the reparations is an evidence
Of desperate straits. The device OF mort
ga cling private industrial properties AMI
selling the bonds in other countries Is
a recognition of this condition. That
would doubtless mean eventually. II Ias
bonds found sale, the acquisition OF
large portions of German property By
foreigners and would be one way of tax
ing over the country of a defeated power
by the victors Nor is Germany as a go
ing concern worth what 1t once was.
Its valuation before the war was eighty
billion dollars. Hardly could one APP
praise it at forty billion now, and the
reparation claims amount to thirty three
billion
1t is work, not paper money. that
gives Germany the superficial appearance
of prosperity, hut work is too slow
process to meet the demands of the pow
ers. The relentless creditor is overtak-
ing the debtor, and one does not like
TO contemplate the probable conse-
ouences. Business in this country should
take due notce.-Copyright, 1921, By
Public Ledger Company.