Evening star., 1922-12-24
Listens In While Europes Financial Jazz Band Plays

republic than In our big one over the
water. Deposits in the savings banks
have increased and also the number
Of depositors. We have In tho United
States a little more than eleven mil
lion men, women and children who
have deposits in our savings banks.
This is the figure for 1920. In 1913
France had less than eight million
depositors. but she has over 15,600,000
just now. In other words. the French
savings depositors have almost
doubled in number within the last
three or four years.
With our present era Of extravagant
spending I do not see how we can
last. II Germany should recoup
France by paying the damages she
morally and legally owes, France will
grow so rich from then on that she
will probably soon be lending to US.
X + +
"A S an honest, plain-thinking man
"A on the street, 1 find it hard to
reconcile the financial conduct Of Ger
many with that of private business or
national honesty. Even before the
war broke out, in 1913, Roland G.
Usher, in his book on Pan-Germanism.
said the Germans did not care what
notes they gave for supplies II they
could create concrete wealth in the
shape of public improvements, such
as railways. munition plants. or in
equipping their army. I have not the
book at my hand, and may not quote
him correctly, but this was the sense
Of the statement. The same method
seems to have been employed by. the
Germans throughout the world war
and in all their foreign transactions
since then. Germany still seems to
consider her contracts and bonds
mere scraps Of white paper; and now.
on the edge Of bankruptcy, she is
spending lavishly on railways, tele-
phones, canals. roads and internal
improvements of every kind. She is
adding steadily to her concrete wealth
without regard to it's cost: and as a
result has, it is said. one of the best
industrial and trading machines upon
earth. Her factories are as intact as
they were before she marched into
Belgium, and she has used the time
since the war to put in new machinery
and perfect her organization. This
may have been done at the expense
of her people, but, taking the same
principle Of a nation being an unlfm-
tied liability company. it is question
If Germany is not rich today.
Suppose we get down to brass tacks
and figure out where Germany stands,
leaving out the matter of reparations
of which she will surely pay no more
than she is obliged to pay. In 1921
her aggregate domestic debt was more
than 24S, 200, 100000 marks, and her debt
in 1913 was just about one billion
dollars. Who held the pre-war debt
I do not know. but it was probably
owned by Germans. So, for easy fig
uring. we can lump the whole in the
mark debt of today.
Two hundred and forty-eight billion
marks! 1t seems vast sum. So 1t is
upon paper, but when you divide it by
the 1900 marks which at this writing
about equal one dollar. it becomes only
s;5. .000. 900 o: actual concrete indebted
ness. This is just about one six-hun-
dredth Of the money We owe. represent
ed for the most art by the Liberty
bonds. which you and / and the hun
dred-odd million other American citi-
zens bought during the war. Looking at
the debt OF France in this way, it is