In the predictions made by bankers and economists last January concerning likely events of the year, a common one related to the final financial collapse of Germany. Thus far, although the end has not yet been reached, their prophecies seem more and more likely of fulfilment. Not only is the rate for mark exchange swiftly approaching the zero point, but the conditions responsible for this sensational decline grow worse instead of better. At first the Reichsbank inflated its currency by the millions each week; next, the weekly increases of Reichsbank notes crept up into billions; now, the inflation is proceeding by the trillion each week. The last Reichsbank statement showed that the altogether unparalleled increase of over 1½ trillion marks, or 10% of the existing note circulation, had been made.
German politicians, however, will not admit that it is this colossal manufacture of new currency that is causing the mark to seek the levels of the worthless Russian rouble. Instead, new and futile laws are being enacted against speculation in foreign exchange, and new and equally futile attempts are in process to somehow "stabilize" the mark exchange rate. At the present stage, it seems that either the German policy concerning the Ruhr must be abandoned, or else a political and social revolution in Germany must occur. The Ruhr occupation is proving expensive to France, but she can easily hang on there until the inevitable German financial collapse arrives.