"BIG MONEY"

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 111, 11 May 1923, Page 6

"BIG MONEY"

One of the advantages of a currency in which the unit has a small figure is the impressive figure presented by a large amount of money. Small boys are often struck by the great truth that an American millionaire (in dollarB) is not' nearly so wealthy as an English millionaire (in pounds), and this fact, jarring to the p«de of the great Kepublic, has spurred its greater, moneymakers to become multi-million-aires, with " billionaire " as the highest title in sight. To be an American billionaire is a practical aim, but there can be no British challenge, because not only is the pound about five dollars, but an English billion is a thousand American billions. In Germany, billions in the American sense, or milliards, are simple things. The fines imposed on the Krupp directors the other day in connection with the Essen sensation totalled 650 million marks, which is nearly two-thirds of a milliard. If these are gold marks, the total wbulcl be about £32,000,000; but in paper marks, at the last quotation of 170,000 marks to the £, it would be about £3800. The exchange rate in such circumstances takes the gilt off various kinds of gingerbread. For example, inmates of a Brandenburg prison were reported yesterday to have revolted, demanding, among other things, a thousand marks (nominally £SQ) * d&y fet' convict labour,

Beduced to the current exchange rate, the prisoners' demand works out at a little over ljd. Kefused this concession, they damaged the prison to the extent of " hundreds of millions of marks"—say, a couple of thousand pounds.