Paris, Sept. 11.
The report issued by the financial experts, appointed. by the League of Nations to ascertain the position of the belligerents after the war, gives considerable support 10 the contention of the French that the heaviest burden falls on them and that a great wrong will be done to France if the Germans are allowed to escape payment of the compensation required from them by the Treaty of Versailles. It appears from the report that France must raise, during the present year, Frs. 11,463,000,000 to pay interest on her public debt. The corresponding figure for Germany is Mks. 12,400,000,000. Exclusive of interest on borrowings, the i crease in public expenditure estimated at 198 per cent. in France and only 95 per cent. in Germany. This' position is, "f course, mainly due to outlay on reconstruction.
The Germans say that they can have no heart to work if they continue to be faced with such a mountain of indebtedness, and on this ground they are flying to influence neutrals and France's allies to obtain relief from their treaty obligations. It would appear, however, from the report, which we must assume to be impartial, that the French have more ground for discouragement than the Germans so far as the lessening financial burdens is concerned. At the present rate of exchatige in dollars, taxation per head of population stands at 18.4 direct and 16.2 indirect in France and 7.6 and 4.9 in Germany, the _respecti totals being 34.6 and 10.4. Public expenditure is Frs. 1,287 per head of population in France and Mks. 892 in Germany. The national venue' per head of population is Frs. 3,200 in France and Mks. 3,900 in Germany. The percentage of public expenditure in relation to revenue is 23 in Germany and 40 in France. At the beginning of 1920 the public debt of France per head at the then rate of exchange was $479.51. Germany's was $88.36. At the normal rate the figures are $1,114.26 for France and $797.57. for Germany. The proportion of the total debt to mean revenue is 180 per head in France and 86 in Germany, so that the French taxpayer is twice 2s heavily burdened as the German. Unless this state of things is altered by the operation of the treaty, the victorious Frenchman will find that he has emerged from the war poorer, deeper in debt and faced with greater uncertainty than the defeated German.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.