New-York tribune., 1922-02-20
tContInuod tIrm paoc encN

malign power so distorted and upset
the reasoning' of COVE, ents that
they cannot see where ~. road lends
that is paved with pap money?
have conferred v,lh practically
every finance minister IN Europe.
They arc not fools; they are III tho
main able, clearslgntcd intelligent
men. They know to-day, if they did
not know two OF three years ago, the
true nature and sextcnt OF tho evils
that lie in ink and paper. when com
hined into circulating notes of uncon-
trollcd volume.
Then why have they not stopped
Why do they not halt the activities of
their presses, reduce expenditure iu-
crease taxation and balance their bud
gets?
That is the classical advice we have
all been giving to these distraught F,u-
ropcsn nations. have come to SEQ
that it is just about as practical as it
would be to advise man afflicted with
week, that if he went to bed earlier
and slept soundly he would wake UP in
,hc morning feeling better.
The finance mini stcrs who have been
responsible for the disastrous imitation
of currency have had no other course
open to them. They could not raise
enough money from taxation or from
loans to balance their budgets Their
income from all possible sources was
less than their necessary expenses.
The government must pay its debts to
keep from going under, and govern
mcnts could frequently pay debts only
oN printing money and issuing it as
legal tender
have heard Poland described as the
comedian in European government fl
nance. Here was nation of 10000 600
people, locateC in a vast territory Of
great agricultural and natural wealth.
1T started its existence without debt
and free from any weight Of indemnity
or immediate pressure for its portion
of the prc-war indebtedness Of the old
nations from which it was formed.
Poland Has Printed Itself
Out of Credit and Cas,
In two years it was utterly bank
rupt. To-day it is without credit. It
has printed one hundred and seventy
billion of Polish marks and has in
hand plans for adding seventy billion
to that total. Its currency i, begin
nng to be refused in It's own shops for
articles of international value. Its own
people so discrcdit the currency that
real estate operations arc now official
ly conducted in dollars
After studying on the ground the
brief history Of the now state. | would
not harshly condemn the Poles. 1t is
true they were without experience and
that they were an improviSed nation,
racially united but politically scpa-
rated for $50 years. under the domina-
ton OF Russia. Austria and Prussia.
This improviSed government. created
suddenly without any OF the machinery
Of administrstion. oilicercd by absolute
lneNperience. their ineNperieuce fur-
ther hampered by temperament. had to
rule territory parts Of which had
been ravaged again and again by war.
Vast districts had been swept clean of
houses tools. farm animals, and even
Of population.
On no border was there peace. On
the east border there was threat of
destruction; Rolshevist Russia with
the fist of the Red Army was knock
ing at the very gate Of Warsaw
Poland had to have funds for her
army, or perish. There seemed moth
ing to do in the extreme urgency of
the moment but brutally to run the
printing press. to sell these demand
obligations Of paper currency for
whatever they would bring anywhere
munitions could be purchased
Fortunately the Red Army was
forced to retire. but victory in the
field had meant defeat in the treasury,
and Poland already was bankrupt. Is
IL 20 be wondered that after escaping
from such d situation, feeling the need
Of an army on every border, hungry.
and needing TO import food that had
to be purchased with the equivalent
OF gold, she continued to travel the
road of imitation? A nation beset bv
all these difficulties was helpless to
take any other course No one could
have stopped it,
went to Poland with the feeling
that her financial history was an an
propriate theme for comic opera: lett
with feelings Of profound commisora-
ton for people VINO, as it seemed to
NE, had been inevitably driven down
the road Of almost lawlcss currency
IMITATION to national bankruptcy.
Central European Powers
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