International trade

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1758394757

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-136209

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Taussig, Frank William http://d-nb.info/gnd/120199459

Title:: International trade

Place of publication:: New York, NY

Publisher:: Macmillan

Year of publication:: 1927

Scope:: XXI, 425 Seiten; graph. Darst.

Digitisation:: 2021

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Part II. Problems of verification

Collection:: Economics Books

264 INTERNATIONAL TRADE different movements of domestic and international prices over considerable periods, might yield instructive results. But no such study has been undertaken, and indeed the necessary statistical material is not readily available, perhaps not available at all. In general, the experience of France offers nothing of special note for the purposes of the present investigations. To this general statement there is one outstanding exception. The Franco-German indemnity of 1871 does have a spectacular character, presents interesting questions, suggests something novel for the problems of verification and interpretation. The main features of the episode have been frequently and fully described ; yet there are certain points, especially as regards the consequences of the indemnity for Germany, which remain obscure. The fol- lowing pages give an outline of the essential features of the famous transaction, such as will enable the reader to follow the observa- tions which I shall have occasion to make on the bearings of the case on some other and wider problems.! The total sum which France was required to pay Germany under the Treaty of Frankfurt was 5.301 milliards of francs: 5 milliards indemnity, plus 301 millions interest on the postponed payments. Against the total was an allowance of 325 millions for the railroads of Alsace-Lorraine, which were taken over by the German Empire and whose owners were reimbursed by France. Thus there remained to be remitted to Germany the sum of 4,976 millions, almost exactly 5 milliards, the amount of the indemnity proper. The indemnity was stated in the form of a lump sum, the 5 milliards. True, there was an arrangement for spreading the payment over time. But the time was so short that the obligation 1 The literature on the indemnity is large. All accounts of it make free use of Léon Say’s remarkable report, made as chairman of the Committee in charge, and printed in his collected works, Vol. I. Among accounts in English, the most com- plete is by A. E. Monroe in the Review of Economic Statistics, 1919; another, also complete, is in Moulton & Maguire’s book on Germany's Capacity to Pay (1923). See also H. H. O'Farrell, The Franco-German War Indemnity and Its Results: N. Angell, The Great Illusion, Part 1, Ch. 6; Soetbeer, Die Fiinf Milliar- den, in Deutsche Zeit- und Streitfragen, 1874 ; papers by A. Soetbeer and E. Nasse in Annalen des Deutschen Reiches, 1875; Bamberger, Die Funf Milliarden, Preus- sische Jahrbiicher, 1875: Gutmann, Das Franzosische Geldwesen im Kriege. Most of these publications lay stress on other aspects of the case than are considered in the present chapter.

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