26

economical  ruin  of  Roumania,  after  the  retreat  of  the  armies  of  occupation  (German, ­
  Austrian,  Hungarian,  Bulgarian,  and  Turkish);  the  railways  worn  out  by
an  intensive  circulation,  and  left  without  repair  and  rolling  stock  *)  the  telegraph ­
  and  telephone  lines  destroyed,  the  high  roads  in  a  state  o  f  ruin,  the
bridges  and  technical  works  smashed,  the  forests  cut  down  to  a  state  of  destruction, ­
  public  and  private  buildings  destroyed  or  ruined,  the  cattle  exterminated
or  carried  away,  agricultural  and  industrial  machines  unmounted  and  carried
off  to  Turkey  and  Bulgaria  all  this  with  the  intention  of  binding  Roumania  for  the
future  in  the  chains  of  economical  slavery  to  Germany.
This  methodical  and  unsparing  plunder  can  be  proved  by  the  fact  that
after  the  armistice,  Roumania,  formerly  the  granary  of  Europe,  was  obliged  to
import  conserved  aliments  from  abroad,  and  wheat  from  America  and  Ausralia
to  avoid  the  famine  which  threatened  the  population  2 )
II.
SPECIAL  CLAIMS  OF  ROUMANIA
In  the  reparations  due  to  Roumania,  we  must  add  another  4  classes  of
damages,  which  constitute  special  claims  of  the  Roumanian  State,  out  of  which
two  are  at  the  charge  of  our  former  enemies  (Germany)  and  her  allies  and  the
other  two  at  the  charge  of  the  allies.
These  claims  are  created  by  :
1.  The  forced  issue  of  bank  notes  during  the  occupation  by  the  enemy,  for
an  amount  of  2.173.000.000  lei 2 )  This  issue  was  the  means  by  which  the  German ­
  administration  of  occupation,  took  products  and  valuables  out  of  the
country  under  the  false  semblance  of  an  effective  pavment.
In  fact  by  the  aid  of  the  »Bancx  Generala  Romano,"  the  managemenl  of
which  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Germans,  the  armies  of  occupation  issued  new  notes
expressed  in  lei,  notes  having  as  security  a  deposit  at  the  Reichsbank  consisting  of
a  sum  of  marks  in  a  proportion  of  80  marks  per  100  lei.  The  armies  of  occupation
put  into  practice  their  scheme,  by  which,  thanks  to  this  issue,  they  were  enabled ­
  to  carry  away  under  the  semblance  of  purchases,  all  the  products  of  the
invaded  territory,  as  the  redeeming  of  the  notes  issued  was,  in  the  intention  of
the  hostile  Powers,  to  be  put  to  the  charge  of  Roumania.
We  must  observe  that  the  2.173  millions  issued  by  the  armies  of  occupation, ­
  on  two  third  j  of  the  Roumanian  territory,  represents  more  than  twice  the
circulation  of  currency  in  the  whole  country  at  the  time  Roumania  joined  the
war  (August  1916).  In  fact  the  monthly  issues  effected  on  the  eve  of  the  enforcement ­
  of  the  Treaty  of  Bucarest  (April  1918)  are  much  larger  than  the  earlier
ones,  as  Germany  being  convinced  that  the  charge  of  redeeming  the  notes,
b  Tli e  number  of  cattle  taken  out  the  country  was  6.689.202  head  of  cattle  ont  of  which  only  the  minim
number  of  45  000  could  be  got  back.
9  The  figure  indicated  tinhe  books  found  after  the  retreat  of  the  armies  of  occupation.