THE MONETARY CRISIS 59 had been presented to Germany, and 100 marks, which were still being quoted in Paris at 22 francs (monthly average for April), fell below 19 in May, gradually reached 14, 13 (in September), and then suddenly, after the request for a moratorium, touched 9-6 in October. Finally, after remaining round 3-8 in May and June 1922, the exchange fell below 1 franc in September of the same year, and below 10 centimes in February 1923 after the occupation of the Ruhr. Even so, the rate of 6 centimes reached at this time was only the starting point for a new course of depreciation. For after having been supported by the Reichsbank until about April, the mark thenceforward, in spite of intermittent attempts to support it, suffered an almost continuous depreciation, of which the following table gives some idea : Paris rate of the = New York rate of mark in francs. the mark in cents. April 17th, 1923 0°0007 0°0044 July 1st. : 0'000125 0°0006 August 1st ‘ 0'0000175 ©" 008.00 September 4th . 0000001 0003. This last rate is equivalent to more than §8 million marks to the pound at Berlin, and nearly 13 million to the dollar. On October 10th the dollar was worth 871 million marks (the depreciation of the latter exceeding that of the rouble), and on October 22nd 43 milliards, and at the beginning of 1924 and after a more rapid decline ! finally reached a level of 4210 § milliards, at which it remained fairly stable. (For the circumstances of this stabilisation and the Rentenmark, see § 8.) § 5. Causes of the aggravation of the crisis in the Allied countries. It becomes fairly clear why the exchange crisis was aggravated in countries where it occurred, if we confine ourselves to considering it in outline. Among the Allies, 1 Valued in gold pfennigs, the mark went from 2} at the end of 1921 to 100 at the end of 1922, and to T5555.655 500 at the end of 1923.