Page:Bankers and Credit (1924).pdf/249

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

most natural from her point of view—was not making serious efforts either to show what her industry was doing in the matter of exports, or to put any brake on the pace at which her finances were slipping into chaos. Why should she do so as long as there was a chance of reducing the Indemnity Bill by looking as bankrupt as possible? These learned gentlemen point out that "no other currency has fallen into decay with so great a potential support still unused," referring to the store of gold in the Reichsbank; and they call on the Government to practise economy and collect its taxes rigorously, and remind it that "capital expenditure for the public services should not be charged to revenue but paid for out of funded internal loans," thus showing that the Government had been printing notes not only to stop the gap between income and expenditure but also, for the provision of capital expenditure, which ought to have been paid for by loans subscribed to by investors.

In fact it seems very likely that the great additions made by Germany to capital equipment go far to account for her failure to balance her foreign trade account. It was noted above that in August 1921 Mr. T. B. Johnston, a well-known Bristol manufacturer,