The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-12-24

army. l have not the book at my hand, and may not quote him cor rectly but this was the sense of the statement. The same method seems to have been employed by the Ger mans 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-sbankruptcy 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 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 peo- pie, but taking the same principle of nation being an unlimited lia- bility company, it is a 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 the reparations, of which she will surely pay no more than she can possibly help. In 1921 her aggregate domestic debt was more than 24S,000, O00s000 marks, and her debt in 1913 was just about $1,o00, 0,000000. Who held the pre-war debt, I know not but it was probably owned by the Germans. So. for easy figuring, we can lump the whole in the mark debt today.
 Two hundred and orty-eight biI lion marksi It seems a vast sum. So it is upon paper, but when you divide it by the 1000 marks which at this writing about equal one dollar, it be- comes only S35.000,00O of actual con crete indebtedness. This is just about one six-hundredth of the money we owe. represent for tlle-most part by the Liberty bonds. which you and and the hundred-odd million other American citizens bought during the war. Looking at the debt of France in this way, it is almost 500 times as great as that of Germany, and the debt of the British.is more than 150 times greater.
 At the same time it is said that cer- tain of the German financiers and in- dustrial companies have been sending their profits out of the country and investing them in foreign credits or depositing them in foreign banks in pound or dollar accounts. The amount of these money exports is said to be in-rfrc neighborhood of s2, ,0O0 0o0,000 It reminds one of the bankrupt who puts all his money in his wifes name just before failure. 1t made Lloyd George think of what the situation will be when the mark goes to nothing and the internal debt of the germans is entirely wip- ed out He said: When that times comes England must beware of a well equipped Germany with 60,00o.- 1000 people competing with such debt laden countries as France and Great Britain which are her industrial rivals
 l may find l have different opinion after I have travelled through Germany; but just now. sad as it is. am reminded of that Japanese say ing: Tt is to laugh!" I do not wen- der that Germany can undersell all other nations to Such an extent that tourists now arriving in Paris tell me how they have bought silk eve- hing dresses in Hamburg for less than s5 and stockings in Berlin for 1 cent pair.
 And Would Great Britain Crawl, Tool
 The suggestion that America should cancel the debt of Great Brit ain. which is worth 100 cents on the dollars. in return for Great Britain canceling such debts as that of Rds- sia and of several small nations whose paper just now has no value in the worlds markets, seems ridic- ulous to the man on the street. So also does Lord Balfour's statement last August that Germany's debt to Great Britain is between SC. .000, ,O0O.- 900 or $7,000, ,000, 1000. We all know