their own frontiers. Nearly all the nations engaged had to consider not only their expenditure at home, but also what they were forced to incur abroad, and to calculate the resources which might meet this situation and the subsidies which had to be furnished by one Ally to others.
France more than any other community suffered this necessity, for the double reason that she had to support a greater military effort and that a part of her territory was invaded. Also, from the very beginning of hostilities, she was deprived of her princi- pal coal-fields and factories in which an essential portion of her metallurgic industry was concentrated. All her male population between 20 and 50 years old was called to the colours, and she had no agricultural labourers left nor workmen for her manu- factories. She had therefore to import from foreign countries enormous quantities of food, coal, arms and ammunitions. Throughout the war her imports continued to grow, while her exports decreased and fell considerably below what they had been in 1913. This can be seen by the figures of her foreign commerce (in millions of francs) :
Imports
Exports
Balance of Imports
1914 1915
6,402
11,035 20,640
4,868
3,937 6,214
1.534 7,098 14,426
1917 1918
1919
27-554 22,301
35-799 35,404
6,012
4,722 11,879
22,434
21,542 17,579 23,920 12,970
1921 . . . . .
(Four months) . . .
} 7,"8
7,400
282
A glance at this table explains why France had to contract the enormous foreign debt of which the details have been given earlier. This table also gives the key to the persistent rise in exchange with various countries which reached its height in the course of 1920. The acquisition of this enormous extra amount of merchandise involved the purchase of a corresponding quantity of foreign moneys, far exceeding French credit in the countries concerned. It was this which caused the rise of the pound sterling to 68 fr., and of the United States dollar to 17 francs. In the first months of 1921 the situation was greatly changed, owing to the rise in the quantity of exports. The changing in the commercial balance was immediately reflected in an easing of the tension in exchange. In May 1921 the pound sterling fell below 47 fr., and the dollar to less than 12 fr.
Another element contributed to the condition of exchange. This was the circulation of notes of the Bank of France; when that circulation increased, prices and exchange both rose. -It progressed in the measure indicated below (in millions of francs) :
End of 1913 . . .... 5,713
" 1914 . . .... 10,042
" 1918 . . .... 30,250
" 1919 . .... 37,274
May 6 1921 . . .... 38,832
Thus, as with foreign trade, it was after the Armistice that the balance was most completely upset. The increase in French circulation of notes was greatest at that moment, that is, during the same year that French imports touched their culminating point. Subsequently the circulation remained almost stationary.
(R. G. L.)
War Money. At the outbreak of war, in July 1914, panic and the hoarding instincts of the population led to the complete dis- appearance not only of gold but of all silver and gradually even of copper coinage. The lowest note then in circulation was of 50 fr., and the immediate crisis was met after a while by the issue by the Bank of France of 5, 10 and 2O-fr. notes. The output of the Mint was in- creased but immediately absorbed. The State being unable to meet the situation, municipalities, chambers of commerce, public com- pan'es, and even private individuals, were forced to manufacture their own small change. There was only one department, that of the Hautes-Alpes, in which none of this war money was issued. This currency was of four different kinds: (l) The notes and tokens of cardboard or metal issued by municipalities, chambers of com- merce, and tradesmen in the non-invaded d stricts of France. (2) The notes issued by invaded communes, by invaded towns or groups of towns. (3) The Alsace issues. (4) The notes and tokens
used in prisoners' camps and camps of concentration and intern- ment In the non-invaded districts it was usually the municipality or the chamber of commerce which issued the notes, which were guaranteed by a deposit in the Bank of France. In the invaded districts it was the towns themselves which guaranteed repayment. In Paris it was not until March 1920 that the chamber of commerce decided to issue small notes of the denominations of 2 fr., I fr., and 50 centimes By that date the small-change crisis in Paris had led to very considerable discontent. All sorts of efforts had been made to meet it: stamps had been enclosed in celluloid discs; the big hotels had issued their own metal or cardboard tokens; big works were paying small amounts to their employees with similar vouchers ; in clubs the ticket system was in force. The artistic merit of the notes was nowhere very great; the paper used was generally bad, and there was a considerable profit for the issuing establishments arising from the large numbers of notes which were torn, lost, or absorbed by the vast number of collectors and souvenir hunters.
(R. G. L.)
THE INVADED REGIONS
It is almost impossible to paint a general picture of the condi- tions which prevailed in the occupied territories of France dur- ing the war, martial law being capable of the most varying in- terpretations according to circumstances and the character of the men called upon to administer it. The story of Lille, which was occupied by the Germans from Oct. 13 1914 till the eve of the Armistice in 1918, gives a general idea of the conditions under which the French in occupied territory lived throughout the war. It should be noted first of all that nearly everywhere the Germans preserved the existing local municipal bodies. At times, however, as at Cambrai, on Jan. 5 1915, without in any way consulting the inhabitants, they changed the composition of the municipal bodies. It should also be added that in the very large majority of cases, mayors and municipal councillors, although able to flee from the enemy, remained behind to per- form their duties at their posts. When the Germans entered Lille they appointed Gen. von Heinrich as governor. He had under him the Gen. von Gravenitz. The first step taken by the Germans was to call upon the population under pain of death to deliver to the mairie all arms, munitions and explosives in its possession. Motor-cars had to be handed over, and troops billeted and fed. Meetings of more than five persons were prohibited; restaurants had to be closed by 9 P.M., which was curfew for all inhabitants. During the day the shutters of all dwelling and business houses had to remain open. Hostages were taken for the good behaviour of the population, among whom were the prefect, M. Trepant, and Bishop Charost. At the start, these hostages had to sleep at the Citadel, being split up for this purpose into six batches. This method was aban- doned on Dec. 31 1914, but was readopted on July 3 1915. Three weeks later this form of petty tyranny was given up, and the hostages .were instead ordered to report twice a day in person at the Kommandanlur. It was not until Oct. 5 of the same year that this formality was dispensed with. Throughout the whole period of occupation a rain of regulations fell upon the town from the military police. People guilty of the slightest breach of any one of these many decrees were subject to severe penalties rising from fine to imprisonment. Those penalties were inflicted in the most ludicrous cases. Thus there were sentences of four days' imprisonment passed upon inhabitants whose timepieces were not regulated on German time. Policemen and civilians had to salute all German officers above the rank of a sub- lieutenant; bicycles had to be delivered to the Germans, under a penalty of a 3OO-mark fine or three months' imprisonment. The exchange value of the mark was declared to be fr. 1-25. In Dec. 1914 certain boundaries were traced in the town, across which the inhabitants must not go. In Feb. 1915 all written communications, even with localities behind the German lines, were forbidden. Naturally, wireless telegraph installations were confiscated, and it was forbidden to pick up newspapers dropped by Allied aeroplanes upon the town. The governor decreed in 1915 that there should be a census of all water-wells, that horses should be reexamined with a view to their serving in the army, and that all proprietors of vehicles and harness, as well as of photographic apparatus should declare them. Von Gravenitz, who was responsible for the institution of passes,
