A. 
AMERICAN LOANS TO GERMANY 
but did not play an important rdle as an agency for foreign 
credits. It was quickly rendered unnecessary, since two days 
after the foundation of the Bank the expert committees of the 
Reparation Commission submitted their report which was soon 
accepted by the various governments. This new Reparation 
Plan re-established the confidence of American! and British 
banks in the economic future of Germany and opened the way 
for the flotation of foreign loans on an extensive scale. 
Some foreign credits were granted to Germany before the 
Reparation Loan. A few German industrial unions like the 
“German Sugar Industry,” the Potash Syndicate, the Rhine- 
Westphalia Coal Syndicate, and a few concerns like the North 
German Lloyd, the Dye Works, and the German Petroleum 
Company, succeeded in securing credits in the United States and 
Great Britain between July and October, 1924. These credits 
were mostly short-term loans and served in part in financing 
exports. This first period of German borrowings was closed by 
the issue of the Reparation Loan (October 14, 1924). 
The second phase in the recent history of German borrowings 
abroad covers the winter of 1924-25. Soon after the conclusion 
of the Reparation Loan, a few German cities (Berlin, Cologne, 
etc.) appeared on the American credit market. They too se- 
cured mostly short-term loans. They were followed by some 
public and semi-public corporations which contracted long- 
term loans. At the same time a number of private corporations 
likewise succeeded in obtaining long-term loans. But all these 
were only single cases. The grant of German loans was still 
considered almost as an adventure, and in the two months 
which followed the election of President Hindenburg (April 26, 
1925) practically no German loan was contracted abroad. 
The third phase began in July, 1925, and was terminated by 
Christmas, 1926. At first the small short-term municipal loans 
were refunded and converted into large long-term loans. But 
1 In this book the words “American” and “America” refer always to the 
United States.