The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1922-01-15

rs money becoming valueless?
will It disappear from use? Shall
we live to see the world with
out q penny2 Many people. includ-
ing most of our French friends. say
that the Germans have deliberately
destroyed the value Of their mark
70 escape paying reparation for the
war. They may be right. but
should want q good deal Of proof
before I believe 1t. I have read too
much history to allow such a sug.
gestion off-hand.
The consequences to the German
people themselves are already ter.
rible. Surprising you were Ger
man who after q life of Toll had
saved $4,000. Your savings today
would be worth less than f100 In
Germany. Away in far-off<China q
man who wants to spite you will
commit suicide on your doorstep.
I cannot yet credit that the Ger
mann are committing financial sui
eide.
No. the real explanation seems to
be much subtle. The German gov
eminent has yielded to the fatal
lure of the financial printing-press.
and they have been recklessly pour
ing out dope in the shape Of paper
notes. The republic has always been
In a precarious and unstable posi-
ton. The government has beer
afraid to tax to the utmost, from
fear of a fresh revolution. They
have not dared to cut down expendi-
ture on their huge department.
RUINOUS PAPER MONEY.
They have tried to keep the work.
ing classes pacified by giving wild
subsidies to industries. Whenever
they were in difficulties they rushed
to the printing press as drug takers
turn to cocaine. Germany had notes
to the value Of 1000 million marks
in circulation when she went to war.
She has now issued notes to the
almost incredible total Of very nearly
100000 million marks. and her
presses still work day and night.
History shows that when govern
ments start printing paper money
in wholesale fashion. the result IL
always the same. They 60 on and
on until their notes become Of no
value. and then there 10 q smash
That il what happened in the
French revolution at the end Of the
eighteenth century, and 1t has just
happened again in Russia.
You have to produce in Russia
today a hat full Of paper rubles,
nominally worth thousands OF
pounds at prewar rates. to buy
single wretched meal. Poland was
the next country to collapse. and not
long ago the Polish mark was reck-
oned at about 10000 to the British
pound, instead Of the normal twenty.
In Austria the crown Is worth
about $4,000 to the pound Instead
of twenty.four. Rumania has sud
denly become infected with the
slump, and her francs QeD were re-
Gently exchanging at nearly 500 TO
the pound instead Of twenty-five.
All over Europe money Is tumbling
into an abyss where it is worth next
70 nothing. One after another the
nations are watching their currencies
being knocked down like ninepins.
VIII our turn Gomez
INFLUENCE OF THE MARK.
1t il not rightly understood In
this country that the downfall of
the German mark means more 10
M than the downfall Of Germany In
war. The decline Of the mark
means that all central Europe may
70 out of business.
The consequences will be world
wide. and II one currency after an
other perishes. ours may not escape
in the long run. Big agricultural
countries like Russia and Germany
can at q pinch almost do without
money II their crops do not fall.
We buy more than half our food
from overseas. and II our money
lost its already diminished value We
should quickly starve.
do not attach much Importance
to the stories we hear of luxurious
living in Germany, of the preva-
lence of costly motor cars, Of tho
hotels and restaurants crowded with
people consuming rich foods and
wines. The stories are, no doubt,
suite true. but they describe the
froth on dark sea Of misery. Too
much attention Is paid to luxury
hotels, which are only drop in the
ocean of expenditure in any ooun-
try. II. for instance. you wanted to
typify France today, you would not
select half dozen Of the leading
hotels of Paris, mostly occupied by
strangers. You would turn to the
peasants in the fields working early
and late to repair the ravages of
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