lp4guld

Of this amount 96,929,000,000, or 60 per cent, was borrowed innine war loans. This was piled on top of the accumulated indebtednessof fifty years.When the war ended, the republic came into being. It would notbe fair to apply to this government between 1920 and 1923 theordinary rules of fiscal criticism. As it faced its heroic task Germanywas best described in the words of Hitler's former colleague, OttoStrasser: "The past was in ruins, the present shattered, the futurewithout hope."To the vast internal war debt was added the fantastic externaldebt—the reparations penalties, not yet fixed but looming at afigure no nation in the world could have paid. With fifty years ofprecedent by the rich and prosperous empire, it would have beenstrange indeed if the bankrupt new republic, with only a halfheartedtolerance of the people behind it, could have escaped acontinuation of the debt policy. The figures speak for themselves.From 1920 to 1923 the receipts and expenditures were as follows: 7Receipts Expenditures Deficits(In gold marks)1920 1,895,000,000 7,034,000,000 5,139,000,0001921 3,750,000,000 7,821,000,000 4,071,000,0001922 1,889,000,000 3,847,000,000 1,958,000,0001923 1,241,000,000 8,462,000,000 7,221,000,000These inadequate receipts were supplemented by the issuance of afloating debt as follows:1921 2,313,000,000 Marks1922 4,é8 5,000,000 "1923 6,955,000,000,000 "This brought Germany to that fantastic episode of inflation whichended by literally extinguishing all debts save the reparations dueto her conquerors. While this inflation had wiped out the savings ofeveryone, had ruined the middle class, extinguished insurancepolicies, bankrupted all sorts of industries and their creditors, and7 The Recovery of Germany, by James W. Angell, Oxford University Press, 1919, i93*·91