26 
economical ruin of Roumania, after the retreat of the armies of occupation (Ger 
man, Austrian, Hungarian, Bulgarian, and Turkish); the railways worn out by 
an intensive circulation, and left without repair and rolling stock *) the tele 
graph and telephone lines destroyed, the high roads in a state o f ruin, the 
bridges and technical works smashed, the forests cut down to a state of destruc 
tion, public and private buildings destroyed or ruined, the cattle exterminated 
or carried away, agricultural and industrial machines unmounted and carried 
off to Turkey and Bulgaria all this with the intention of binding Roumania for the 
future in the chains of economical slavery to Germany. 
This methodical and unsparing plunder can be proved by the fact that 
after the armistice, Roumania, formerly the granary of Europe, was obliged to 
import conserved aliments from abroad, and wheat from America and Ausralia 
to avoid the famine which threatened the population 2 ) 
II. 
SPECIAL CLAIMS OF ROUMANIA 
In the reparations due to Roumania, we must add another 4 classes of 
damages, which constitute special claims of the Roumanian State, out of which 
two are at the charge of our former enemies (Germany) and her allies and the 
other two at the charge of the allies. 
These claims are created by : 
1. The forced issue of bank notes during the occupation by the enemy, for 
an amount of 2.173.000.000 lei 2 ) This issue was the means by which the Ger 
man administration of occupation, took products and valuables out of the 
country under the false semblance of an effective pavment. 
In fact by the aid of the »Bancx Generala Romano," the managemenl of 
which was in the hands of the Germans, the armies of occupation issued new notes 
expressed in lei, notes having as security a deposit at the Reichsbank consisting of 
a sum of marks in a proportion of 80 marks per 100 lei. The armies of occupation 
put into practice their scheme, by which, thanks to this issue, they were en 
abled to carry away under the semblance of purchases, all the products of the 
invaded territory, as the redeeming of the notes issued was, in the intention of 
the hostile Powers, to be put to the charge of Roumania. 
We must observe that the 2.173 millions issued by the armies of occupa 
tion, on two third j of the Roumanian territory, represents more than twice the 
circulation of currency in the whole country at the time Roumania joined the 
war (August 1916). In fact the monthly issues effected on the eve of the enfor 
cement of the Treaty of Bucarest (April 1918) are much larger than the earlier 
ones, as Germany being convinced that the charge of redeeming the notes, 
b Tli e number of cattle taken out the country was 6.689.202 head of cattle ont of which only the minim 
number of 45 000 could be got back. 
9 The figure indicated tinhe books found after the retreat of the armies of occupation.