5

beeing  damaged,  the  restoration  of  general  situation,  as  normally  and  hast  ily  as
possible,  must  be  for  every  body  and  consequently  for  those  having  sulfered
damages  a  greater  satisfaction  than  the  sums  which  we  might  advance  them
to  the  pi  ejudice  of  this  consolidation  and  normalization.  This  is  why  we
thought  it  best  to  follow  the  second  solution.
We  think  that  in  the  serious  financial  situation  in  which  some  ot  the
Allied  States  which  have  adopted  the  first  solution  are  placed,  justified  the  prudent
and  unselfish  manner  in  which  the  Roumanian  State  had  acted.
In  the  situation  in  which  Roumania  was  on  the  morrow  of  the  war,  by  paying ­
  the  war  damages  and  satisfying  in  a  very  feeb'e  measure  the  sufferers  by  anticipation, ­
  would  have  increased  the  evil  rendering  the  financial  restoration
of  the  country  impossible.
Certainly  that  this  prudent  behaviour  should  not  prevent  us  from  thinking
of  these  sufferers  and  of  the  special  sacrifices  which  some  citizens  have  made.
More  especially  the  Roumanian  State  has  inscribed  out  ot  its  own  resources  the
pavment  of  important  sums  for  war  pensions  both  in  the  former  Kingdom  as
well  as  in  the  freed  provinces,  payments  which  the  armistice  and  the  treatees
had  put  to  the  charge  of  our  former  enemies.
Therefore  as  soon  as  we  were  assured  of  the  balance  of  our  budget  and  even
of  excesses,  we  destined  in  the  last  two  budgetary  years  certain  sums  (very  reduced ­
  compared  to  the  total  of  the  damages  o50  mil  lei)  for  assisting  those
who  were  seriously  harmed.
Of  course  the  fii  al  settling  of  this  obligation  will  depend  in  the  first
place,  on  the  general  policy  of  reparations  and  of  interallied  debts  which  forms
the  principal  object  of  this  report.
On  this  policy  it  will  depend  whether  our  nationals  having  suffered
war  damages  will  be  assisted,  or  it  on  the  contrary  new  sacrifices  will  be
demanded  of  them  and  the  whole  coumtry,  making  them  pay  instead  of  onr
former  enemies.
This  is  in  a  short  summing  up,  the  stage  in  which  Roumanian  financial ­
  consolidation  is  at  this  moment  We  might  resume  it  as  we  said  above
by  the  following  assertions.  The  Roumanian  State  by  its  own  means
without  any  help  from  anybody,  with  great  sacrifices  made  to  the  detriment  of
its  restoration  and  endowments  has  assured  its  financial  consolidation.  It  has
therefore  done  all  that  depended  on  it.
Alter  the  general  war  however,  more  especially  for  the  States  which  participated ­
  more  completely  in  the  hostilities,  their  financial  consolidation  can  be
strongly  influenced  by  the  manner  in  which  the  treaties  will  be  applied  for
hastening  or  retarding  the  restoration  of  the  country,  and  by  the  manner  in
which  the  question  of  the  debts  contracted  between  the  Allied  States  during
and  because  of  the  war,  will  be  settled.
Therefore  the  financial  consolidation  will  be  influenced  by  two  factors
which  unfortunately  this  time  do  not  depend  exclusioly  on  us  and  our  means.
It  is  indifferent  if  these  two  questions  will  be  joined  together  when  they  are