Evening star., 1924-05-04
keich's Hopes and Aims
i Are Revealed by Chancellor

SHOWN many Signs OF II natlOn Snat-
tered and desperate, 1t has been be-
| cause. and only because our people
were bereft pf everything that makes
social sanity and discipline possible.
The bankruptcy Of 4 NatioA.
"on the other hand, gold standard
currencies rushed into Germany as air
into a vacuum. Foreigners f,ocked
hither to scoop up our inflated marks.
exchange them for full-value German
commodities and retired enriched.
From a neutral country. for example,
there came man for a little
recreation in Berlin. He lived we'll at
fashionable hotel. bought in the
Inter den Linden a beautiful German
god watch for the mark yield of a few
gold notes, returned home and sold
his watch for sufficient profit to
cover all his expenses In Germany.
Thus the wealth still remaining in
the country after the war was SUBJ
jected to very heavy drain.
German employers. like their en-
ployes. ran a breathless race with the
descent of the mark. Accustomed to
pay their workers monthly, they be-
gan to pay weekly. and finally daily,
to minimize the losses from depre-
citation. For the same reason the
workers no sooner received their
marks than they hurried to get rid of
them for something that would re-
tain it's value.
"Al state functions were harried
correspondingly. Money received for
taxes lost its value while in course
of collection. Obligations were put
off in order that they might be met
with cheaper currency. Grimes
against property multiplied. for ne
cessitous people were disposed to take
what the fruits of their labor would
not buy. Men and women went into
the forests for wood and into the
fields for potatoes. Such crimes were
punished in accordance with the law.
but penalties were often futile
against cold and hunger.
contradictory views were held of
what should or could be done We
passed highly restrictive and punitive
legislation against the flight of capi-
tai. All privacy of commercial and
banking accounts was set aside. Our
inQuiSition. We turned on the tax
alton screw as far as practicab able.
We obtained what foreign currency
We could to pay reparations. But in
the end all expedients failed, bank
ruptcy was complete and payments
under the treaty of Versailles ceased.
The Tragedy of the Failing Mark.
TT is asserted that we voluntarily
extinguished the value of the mark
by imitation. On the contrary, we
frantically fought to maintain the
standard Of our money. realizing that
depreciation meant confiscation; that
lifelong savings would be snuffed
out; that the middle and working
classes would be impoverished; that
the national morale would undergo
an unprecedented strain and that
our entire social order might be en-
quilted in disaster. Not any desire
of ours. nor any fault or default of
ours. reduced the mark to worthless
paper: this calamity befell us because
of the imposition upon our war
weakened country Of burdens great
er than 1t could bear.
I'VE are accused again of govern
mental connivance with industrial
and commercial cleverness in siphon
ing wealth out of Germany in the
form of gold deposits abroad derived
from the sale Of German exports. TO
which I have already referred. 1t is
the allegation that these credits were
reparation payments. Precisely the
contrary is the truth We we're
struggling to maintain our domestic
economy and to discharge the obli-
cations fixed by the treaty of Yer
sailles. To do these things it was
indispensable that our industrial and
commercial apparatus should work.
If this apparatus worked we must
get food and raw materials from
other countries, and such commodi-
graded mark. Such accumulations of
foreign credit by German exporters
as were permitted by the German
government-and our laws were as
stringent as our observation was
vigilant were intended to keep
life npd produofior onir, nnt
only to meet domestic needs, but to
make reparation payments.
Individuality Of Foreign Credits.
''If some exporters built up larger
foreign credits than the German
laws intended they should-and this
is not impossible-it was not because
of. but in spite of, the policy and the
endeavorB of the reich. Our thought
and energy in the Wilhelmstrasse
were ever directed, not to give spe-
cial help or privileges to the trading
community or to any other class of
our population. but to serve the com
monwealth whose interests we be-
lieved would be advanced by honestly
meeting, SO far as possible. all the
obligations of the government.
Some persons talk as II it were
enter foreign banks and levy upon
German credits there. At the first
hint of such a thing. American COM
petent circles Immediately pointed
out its impossibility.. Attempts to
institute inquiries looking to an ap-
praisal of German credits in the
banks of European countries proved
futile at the outset, as no country
would ever tolerate such interfer-
enoe In its banking business. The
G-O Of ~ -
not permit of any such measure. And
we ourselves have that feeling. 1t
probably is not far from the truth
to say that to overturn the prin-
ciple Of the inviolability of private
property is to overturn the funda-
ment of our present social and eco
nomic organization. So much for the
charges that the German republic de-
liberately committed against its peo-
pie the crime of imitation and aided
ganized attempt to swindle the bene-
ficiaries of the treaty of Versailles"
Potential Wealth, Actual Poverty.
"one hears that Germany is rich
and also that she is poor"
I'm a sense she Is both. Potentially
Germany is rich; she has certain nat
ural and the sociological elements of
great national wealth and power.
Actually Germany is not only poor
but bankrupt. She has the plant for
vast industry, agricultural and
commercial. but she has no, working
capital. Great as were her trading
activities during the quarter Of a CEN
tury before the war, she has not
time to accumulate the huge reserves
of capital OF the older business COM
muhities. She had relatively little
amassed wealth: what she had was
consumed during the war, delivered
up under the treaty Of Versailles. or