Evening star., 1923-09-22
Can Europe Hold Together?
K-The Problem OF. Germany.
BY JOHN r. sINCLAIR

/ from her merchant marine services
and another si25. 100000 from tour
/ lists, remittances abroad,f etc. This
! gave her $5e0,000,000 a year with
which she could square her purchases
abroad and Still have over st25,000.-
] boo for good measure. So, as in the
case of France, her problem was an
Iieasy one. ~ m
/ Now let. us see what another thing
I the war did for Germany.
Her investments abroad We're either
| sold or. later confiscated. This re-
lieved her Of s1.000.000 day income.
Invisible export No. gone Her
| merchant marine was either sunk or
later confiscated under the Versailles
/ treaty. thereby taking from her an
| other. 1920, 900 a day income. Invisi-
BILE export No. 2 gone. Her service
] fees, tourists. etc, stopped during the
war thereby taking from her $780,
| 600 a day income. Invisible export
visible exports which she had used
| to pay the excess of her purchases
leach year, and amounting to $780,
900 day, were gone.
| want every reader to get the true
Significance of this. When Germany
/ lost the key to her international
trade. She lost her business balance
! wheel. That practically destroyed her
| International business life, And when
the means for carrying on interna-
| tional trade goes, the standard of
living for the average man within
! that nation falls.
! 4 X + +
But this is not the whole story. 1t
is not half the story. Not only has
she lost her invisible export account,
but she has also lost a very great
part of her visible exports as well.
She has lost under the provisions of
the peace treaty % per cent of her
coal (not including the Ruhr), "A per
cent of her iron ore, 6S per cent of
| her zinc ore, 15 per cent of her wheat
| land and Is per cent of her potato
land. Such a misfortune would Grip
pie any people in the world. In itself
IL might well cause social decay. Just
study these figures for moment.
Translate them into the lives of peo-
pie. What does it mean? 1t means
Germany when she signed the peace
treaty signed her financial death
warrant. 1t means that Germany has
100000 a day less income to buy
goods with on the world markets II
means that she has lost one-third of
her income. while of the balance left
another third goes to pay interest
charges only on the internal debt.
Interest charges on her debt imme-
diately after the war were fifty-three
times what they were in 1913. 1t
means her credit structureAis ruined.
1t means that she can sell no more
bonds to tide her over. II means her
industrial machine, which she built
especially for international trade, has
been wrecked. II means a lower and
lower standard Of living for the masses.
1t means that she has left no agency
except the government printing press.
1t means that her doom is sealed and
the printing presses will work on until
the end. 1t means that twenty mil
lion people today cannot live above
the head line. where sixty million lived
in comfort before.
This tells the story. In 1914 an
American dollar would buy four Ger
man marks: in 1918, ten marks; in
1921, one hundred marks; in 1922,
fifteen hundred marks; in August.
1928. twelve million marks, and Septem-
ber S, fifty million marks.
The problem already has gotten on
beyond her control The financial
dyke has broken. Germany is doomed.
Tomorrow-Reparati and the
Ruhr Invasion.
Copyright 1929. il United States and Great
Britain by North American Newspaper
Alliance. All rights reserved)