THE MONETARY CRISIS 57 
to the Swiss franc fixed on Berlin differed considerably, 
however, from those which prevailed on the free market 
at Amsterdam or Geneva, where bills on Germany drawn 
in marks were paid for in florins and Swiss francs respec- 
tively, and, in view of the monopoly of the Foreign 
Exchange Office, arbitraging could not come into play in 
order to bring the rates to level time. With the object, 
therefore, of creating a single rate for the mark at the 
level desired by the Office, German exporters were urged 
not to allow their foreign clients to discharge debts by 
purchasing and transmitting bills on Germany drawn in 
marks, but rather themselves to draw bills on their 
clients in foreign currencies, which would be negotiated 
at Berlin. This method was all the more justifiable in 
that neutral exporters usually required German importers 
to settle in neutral currencies and rarely negotiated bills 
drawn in marks. 
The creation of the Foreign Exchange Office had in 
any case the advantage of giving German importers, who 
had contracted to pay in foreign currencies, the means of 
obtaining these currencies at a comparatively stable rate, 
leaving the exchange risks on the neutral market to be 
borne by foreign dealers who covered the bills drawn in 
marks. The Office may further be considered to have 
contributed to supporting the rate, even abroad, since the 
mark will be seen to have remained fairly stable on foreign 
markets after the Office was created and up to about the 
end of 1916. But the centralisation of foreign payments 
could no longer send up or even maintain the rate of exchange 
when the available funds thus collected ceased to be sufficient 
for requirements. 
§ 4. Aggravation of the Exchange Crisis after the War. 
Contrary to the hopes which were formed at the 
Armistice, when all the exchanges including the mark, 
the Austrian crown and the rouble had improved, the 
cessation of hostilities was not to put an end to the ex- 
change crisis. It is true that the dollar was soon back at