International trade

Bibliographic data

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

Usage license:: Get license information via the feedback formular.

Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Part II. Problems of verification

Collection:: Economics Books

266 INTERNATIONAL TRADE to a small extent also in Bank of France notes. Bank notes were turned over to Germany to the limit permitted (125 millions). Coin was turned over to the amount of something over 600 millions. The remainder was handed to Germany in the form of bills of exchange — 4,248 millions in all, by far the largest part of the required total. The operations by which France acquired the bills were of the most extraordinary character. Every banking house in Europe was induced to participate. The French Government opened offices of its own in London, Brussels, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Berlin. Not less than 120,000 separate bills of ex- change were bought, were marshalled so as to conform to the stipulated dates for instalment payments, and were finally handed over to Germany. The French genius for the orderly conduct of great transactions never shone more brilliantly. Whence, now, came this great volume of bills of exchange ? Not from a surplus of exports over imports — not as the result of the sale of French goods to Germany or other countries. True, the merchandise movements showed effects from the indemnity oper- ations. For a year or two the usual current of France's trade was reversed. The excess of imports over exports which had character- ized it for so many years was replaced for a short time by an excess of exports. During 1872 and 1873 French exports were greater than the imports by about 200 millions of francs for each year. But after 1873 the previous merchandise relation again appeared with hardly an exception; imports again exceeded exports. France paid the indemnity only to a small extent in goods ; just as she paid it only to a small extent in coin or in Bank of France notes. The one adequate resource was the great mass of accumulated French investments in foreign countries. These investments existed chiefly in the form of foreign securities held by Frenchmen. It was their sale that supplied most of the funds for the great loans and for the bills of exchange, the funds both for the domestic and the foreign tasks. This resource was not utilized deliberately, in the sense that the officials in charge consciously turned to it. Tt was thru an indirect process, and apparently one not expected, that

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