BANKRUPTCY FOR GERMANY?

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIX, Issue 249, 20 October 1915, Page 2

BANKRUPTCY FOR GERMANY?

THE CHANCELLOR'S "CONFESSION."

Different, news agencies (Reutcr, Central News, etc.), says the London Daily Chronicle, circulate alike an astonishing messago from Amsterdam to this effect: —

At tlie secret conference convoked by the German Chancellor prior to the meeting of the Reichstag, the Minister of Finance (says the^Telegraaf) explained that the new war loan would completely exhaust the financial resources of Germany, and that the increase in exchequer bonds would cause complete bankruptcy. •.' It was, therefore necessary to

r prepare <m h.onornl>le peace. The Chancellor stated that difl<"culties were increasing, and advised those present to use. their influence in order" io soften down bellicose inclinations and expansion policy in the Reichstag and ■ country, and to carefully prepare proposals which | would be acceptable to the Quad- ! ruple Entente. i i The report of Dr Dernberg about feeling; in Ih© United States and other neutral countries made a strong impression on tlie confti enco. „ General yon Moltke declared he 'fully agreed with the Chancellor ; and added that only those who were not fully informed of the situation could hope for the possibility of the complete defeat of Russia. ! In spite of these "important declarations the meotirg iefu*e*l to adopt a resolution advising moderation to the Reichstag. "'hereupo.f the Chancellor declared that ii the majority in the Reichstag should show an irreconcilable Chauvinistw a+.iituJe he would be obliged in rtvjign, as he could not accept the re^pcnsibility fee Germany's v disaster. . j

That the real business of a genuine '''secret conference should be tlnis openly discussed, ahroad seems unlikely. At any rate, the ''revelations" are not in keeping with the v.oihU reported in the I?erlin wii'ele-'-s as having been spoken- subsequently by the German Chancellor to a ma flicking crowd outside his palace : — Our people are in jubilation about the heroic deeds of our arir.:e.s. . , . The Koichstag has powerfully manifested the xinshaken resolution of the German nation to win this war—appropria-^

tins; ten billons in one day. Pro?jiino-nt baukovs in T.ondon ('while alloAvin<^ that the above statement may exactly oxin'oss the German financial position) ahntxst without exception express doubl as to whether -t was ever made (says the Chronk-'le).

"Snch a confession of weakness .Hist before the- issue of a new war loan v.'oiikl ho sh<x>r folly, and T cannot imagine Hint even a Gorman oiSeia! would he guilty of it," :■■■:> id one of the lending hankers. "The only motive could he to got the Allies to relax thHr efforts in the hope iliat economio exhanr.iion would save tliev ( , the tronblo of (^arryiri.l?; out ditti< i\\i and costly military operations. IT this is f.he idea, it is on a par with the '":it;!e iio'icv whi"h has <h;n:i ■-

fenced Germ.m dinlomatisfs IVom the \ hogi::rnn.!:;. But Tdo not. think that Ibo '"Y.'ioniic qa^'-ir-' v'l! sci tie this V'"'1 '"' t. y-.'i. tli'.Miiih it may evei:-tp-"y." Tlw- financial position oi' Corni'iiiy It.jp of course, becoming moro terious

every day. She lias accumulated enormous paper liabilities with little or nothing behind them.. Her two loan operations were nothing but paper juggling on a gigantic scale. Her people's assets —liquid and nonliquid—are pledged up to the hilt. Her foreign trade no longer exists. Germany has spent her first war credit of a thousand millions sterling. She has now been granted another credit of a thousand millions. When she has spent that, and at the present rate of expenditure it will not be a very lengthy business, she will have to find no less than one hundred millions .sterling per annum in interest on her war leans clone. How will she be able to find it with her people utterly impoverished by war and her trade ruined

Obviously she expects the Allied nations to bear the burdens which, if imposed on her people in the form of taxation, would crush them utterly. The German Finance Minister has already said so in so many words. He has not even made a beginning in imposing new taxation. It is simply a huge gamble. If Germany wins she expects to get huge war indemnities. She would thus be saved from disaster. But if she loses it cannot mean anything less than commercial collapse and national bankruptcy.

Like the hardened gambler, Germany still hopes against hope. Her people cerainly do not yet realise that complete victory can never be hers. But her leading men know, though they have to' keep in> the illusion as long as possible. That is why our big financial people think it unlikely that the German Finance Minister has so completely given" himself away.