59

after  five  years  of  suppress  ing  or  reducing  certain  advantages  granted  at  present ­
  under  thai  Protocol.
The  provisions  of  the  Innsbruck  Protocol  and  the  organisation  of  the»Common ­
  Cash--  reminds  us  of  the  treatment  to  which  was  submitted  the  Ottoman
debt  before  the  war.  Roumania  always  was  a  good  debitor,  whose  public  debt
before  the  war,  was  always  regularly  paid,  and  will  not  suffer  to  be  submitted
to  such  a  treatment.  That  is  why  the  Roumanian  Government  refused  to  sign
the  Innsbruck  Protocol,  because  it  intends  to  settle  the  whole  Austro-Hungarian
debt  in  a  manner  which  may  be  compatible  with  its  sovereign  rights.  Roumania ­
  on  these  terms  is  ready  to  settle  her  portion  of  the  Austro-Hungarian
public  debt  which  accrues  to  her.
On  the  other  hand  Roumania’s  obligation  to  take  upon  herself  a  part  of  the
public  debt  of  the  former  monarchy,  can  only  be  looked  upon  in  connection  with
the  reparations  which  are  due  to  her.  Otherwise  we  would  be  placed  in  such  a
situation  that  the  Roumanian  ratepayer,  not  receiving  anything  for  the  damages ­
  he  has  sufferedwould  be  called  on  to  contribute  again,  in  favor  of  the  citizens
of  former  hostile  countries,  whose  debts  have  been  reduced  or  ajourned.  And
what  is  still  more  abnormal,  they  would  receive  a  great  part  of  these  payments
in  gold,  when  it  is  well  known  that  these  States  have  almost  completely  anulled
their  internal  public  debt  after  the  mon-  tary  depreciation.  If  the  secured  debt
can  be  justified  more  or  less,  by  the  value  of  the  railroads,  or  other  investments
existing  in  the  transferred  territory,  really  the  unsecured  debt  has  no  justification, ­
  especially  for  Roumania,  unless  it  be  to  throw  a  valueless  claim  to  be
paid  by  a  more  solvent  debitor.  We  must  hope  that  the  negociations  in  course,
and  relating  to  the  interallied  debts,  will  settle  this  matter  in  a  normal  way
before  the  meeting  fixed  for  next  November  at  Prague,  and  that  Roumania  will
be  able  in  consequence  to  leave  her  attitude  of  reserve.
To  the  chapter  of  public  debt,  we  must  further  add  the  socalled  administration ­
  debts,  which  were  contracted  before  the  war,  by  the  different  administrations ­
  whose  present  seat  is  in  the  freed  teritories.
The  situation  of  such  debts,  as  regards  Hungary  will  have  to  be  arranged
between  the  Roumanian  and  the  Hungarian  Governments,  in  accordance  to  the
Convention  concluded  on  April  16 11  1924.
Probably  that  the  same  solution  will  be  adopted  for  arranging  the  administration ­
  debts,  in  Bukovina,  as  such  a  solution  was  favorably  accepted  by  the
Gommision  of  Reparations.

CHAPTER  V
Roumania’s  obligations  deriving  not  from  the  Ireaiies,  but
BY  CAUSE  OF  THE  WAR,  OR  OF  SITUATIONS  CREATED  BY  THE  DISMEMBERMENT
of  the  Austro-Hungarian  Monarchy
1)  The  pensions  and  the  allowances  to  invalides,  orphans  and  widows  in
the  freed  territories,  charges  taken  up  for  considerations  of  humanity  and  ol
generosity  by  Roumania,  without  there  being  any  grant,  on  the  pait  of  the
former  monarchy  for  keeping  them  up.