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183
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Questions and Counter-Questions.
20
One of the strongest bopes entertained by England at the outbreak of war was that of the speedy financial collapse of Germany. Sure of what she believed to be her unassailable monopoly as the world's banker, she was convinced that Germany would not be able to compete with her financially and that, whereas she herself could only profit by the war, the latter would ruin Germany. To-day scarcely any more proofs are needed of the fact that in this respect, as in so many others, things have turned out quite differently to what people imagined. Germany's financial strength is as unimpaired as her military strength; she has subscriber! three war loans, and each of these successive war loans proved a more brilliant success than its predecessor. She is now about to emit a fourth loan, the success of which is just as certain as that of the three earlier How matters stand, on the other hand, with England, is probably best demonstrated by the fact that the Intter was compelled to raise a Ioan on the most exorbitant terms in America. We may, indeed, say that she had to beg this loan, of which only one half of the originally proposed value was subscribed.
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The English are now seeking, by means of the usual misrepresen- tations and Press lies, to underrate the significance of this evidence, which is so favorable to Germany. If only some obscure agitator were at work. we could afford to treat the matter with contempt. But when well-known and eminent financiers do not hesitate to come forward in support of such assertions, it is not possible to ignore them. It then becomes necessary to scrutinise these methods, and to protest against the mis- representations and sophistries of our detractors.
A short time ago the Chairman of the London City and Midland Bank, Sir Edward Holden, who was also a member of the Commission which negotiated the loan in America in the autumn of 1915, put a series of questions to the German Minister of Finance, Dr. Helfferich, at the annual meeting of the shareholders of the Bank. It was intended, by means of these questions, to prove irrefutably Germany's financial ruin. As Dr. Helferich, for obvious reasons, was not present at the meeting and was consequently unable to reply on the spot, the Times, the Daily Tele- graph and other English newspapers declared that it was certain that Dr. Helfferich could not possibly answer without admitting the fact of Germany's bankruptcy. The North German Gazette has now rendered the English newspapers the service of answering Sir Edward Holden's questions; and it has supplemented its answers by a series of counter-questions. The North German Gazette rightly observes that no one need trouble the Imperial Minister of Finance to reply to these counter-questions, seeing that the Intter can be solved by every beginner.
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