FALL OF GERMAN MARK

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 49, 26 August 1922, Page 7

FALL OF GERMAN MARK

PANICKY SELLING BY HOLDERS SBMDBB DANGER IN ABSENCE " .OF'RECOVERY. ; (nott ram 4uqaMUK.-comiHT.) CMHUUMr •imr zmlasb oaiu assocuimn.) (Received 26th. August, 9 a.m.) .-'. ■■■■ , / LONDON, 25th August. The-Qerman. exchange rate opened today at 10,000 marks to the £1. Apparently Germany has abandoned, any hope of an eariy settlement with France, who pacaitta in demanding satisfactory guarantees, with the result that there is a general ifear that France will take drastic action. There/^are rumours, at present unconfirmed, that , French troops have invaded the Ruhr district. In the meantime the 'proceedings' of Sir John Bradbury's delegation'are being kept secret, although' it is denied that an offer of £2,500,000 W been made! In this state of affairs'there has been a large and apparently panicky selling of mark*, especially from New York and Amsterdam, where huge amounta are held by speculators. ■-'•■•■.■ These'sale* hive oaueed a panic in the Berlin Boore*. There it an even greater panic .'in: the retail trade. , Countless housaholden are beeieginft ehope anxious to use their last few mark* in buying something of practical value. As the shopkeepers increase -their prices by 100 per cent, daily, the trade union leaders j have requested Dr. Wirth, the Chancel-! lor, to reintroduoe the rationing of necessiSas, Government control of foreign trade, prohibition of .tie sale, of sweets, , champagne and luxuries, and to limit the j manufacture of been ' Dr. Wirth replied that he would come to no agreement with Sir John 'Bradbury's delegation which would endanger the people's food sup. plies. He would increase the duties on tobacco, coffee, and all luxuries, and prohibit inqtorta as , far as possible., The Government has proposed an intfinml gold loan to raise urgeatly-needed funds. London financial expert* call attention to the fact that the, Austrian krone, worth 9000 to the £1 nine months ago,* is now quoted at 400,000 to th« £1. They point ©at that the mark is rapidly approaching * condition in which it will be equally-useless asa medium of exchange and as a basis of taxation, so before long Germany will be usable to do any trad* abroad. When it reaches .that stage of depreciation, and when the supplier of food «od af matsrisi Me'exhausted, tmwktpmßt* wjll be ranch more.rapid and infinitely more dangerous i&n ia AiKba* on account of the larger proportion oi thapopolation,engaged In t&§ industry u> Cknoaay and., of poHtfc^ onnxplioatkmi. •