were occupied, a customs frontier was set up on the Rhine, and German exports were penalized by a 50% duty. On April 24 1921 Germany, after the President of the United States of America had declined to act as arbitrator, addressed a fresh request to America asking her to mediate in the Reparations question. At the third and last conference in London (May 1-5) the Allies addressed to Germany, in the form of an ultimatum which had to be accepted by May 12, the following demands: The whole indebtedness of Germany for Reparations was to be 132 milliards of gold marks (6,600,000,000), of which 50 milliards were to be rapidly paid off; a fixed annual payment of not less than three milliards of gold marks was to be made, con- sisting of a direct fixed payment of two milliards and a varying impost of 25% or 26% on German exports. The Reichstag accepted the ultimatum on May 10 after debates characterized by exceptional violence. A new Government, composed of Social Democrats, members of the Catholic Centre and Demo- crats, with Dr. Wirth (hitherto Finance Minister) as Chancellor, was formed, and was prepared to hazard the attempt to fulfil these colossal demands. Dr. Bauer (a former republican Chancellor) took the office of Vice-Chancellor; the Social Demo- crat Dr. Gradnauer was the new Minister of the Interior; while Dr. Walther Rathenau, managing director of the Allgemeine Elektrizitatsgesellschaft, took the Ministry of Reconstruction. Dr. Rosen, an experienced diplomatist, hitherto German Min- ister at The Hague, became Minister for Foreign Affairs. The first milliard of gold marks for the year 1921 was punctually paid by Germany by Aug. 31. On Oct. 6 and 7 the Minister for Reconstruction, Rathenau, concluded at Wiesbaden a conven- tion with the French Minister for Reconstruction, Loucheur, regarding German payments in kind for restoring the devastated regions of northern France. The value of the contemplated de- liveries of material was not to exceed seven milliards of gold marks up to May i 1926. Associations of German industrial contractors were to be formed to carry out the deliveries.
The effect of the gigantic Government purchases of foreign bills for the Reparations payments was a heavy fall in the mark, which assumed a disastrous character in Oct. 1921 in con- sequence of the recommendations of the Council of the League of Nations regarding the partition of Upper Silesia. Upper Silesia had voted in the plebiscite of March 20 by a two-thirds majority for remaining German. At innumerable public meet- ings and demonstrations the German people had urged that the region ought to remain in the Reich; the Reichstag had voted a bill at the close of 1920 giving it autonomy. Another Polish insurrection instigated by Korfanty in the spring of 1921 had caused great suffering and damage. In spite of the protests of the whole German nation and of the great majority of Upper Silesians, including a good number of Poles, the portions of the region which were the most important for German commerce and industry, and therefore for the payment of the Reparations, were assigned to Poland in Oct. 1921 by the Allied Council of Ambassadors in accordance with the decision of the Council of the League of Nations. The result was a political crisis in Berlin and the resignation of the Wirth Ministry. But Dr. Wirth was indispensable at this stage, and in a few days he resumed office.
The negotiations between the Government of the Reich and Bavaria regarding the disarmament and the disbandment of the Bavarian Einwohnerwehr entailed difficult discussions. Both demands were, however, finally fulfilled by Bavaria. The Bava- rian Minister-President, von Kahr, resigned in Sept. 1921 be- cause he found himself unable to agree to the demand of the Government of the Reich that the state of siege in Bavaria should be raised. In Oct. the ex-kings of Wurttemberg and Bavaria died within a very short time of each other. The assassination of Erzberger on Aug. 26 1921 had caused great indignation and excitement among the parties of the Left and the Catholic Centre, and led to measures being taken by the Government of J the Reich against press organs of the Right. The Reichstag after the autumn recess was engaged through the party leaders in negotiations that lasted for weeks in an endeavour to broaden
the basis of the Coalition by making it include all the parties from the Deutsche Volkspartei (the old National Liberals) on the Right to the Social Democrats on the Left, with a view to securing a more stable basis for the economic life of the country and also in the interest of the Reparations payments, as the National Liberals largely represent industrial capitalism.
While, during the first years of the Revolution, all attempts to introduce any degree of order into the confusion which reigned in Germany seemed almost hopeless, it was nevertheless found possible, in course of time, to bring about a more tolerable state of things in both political and economic life. Until well into the year 1920 insurrections and disturbances, sometimes of a very ominous character, were constantly recurring in different parts of Germany. The insurrectionary movement then began to subside, and unrest became confined to a strike movement, which was, no doubt, very extensive and successively affected all kinds of workers and salaried employees. This movement, however, although it partially undermined the economic life of the country, ceased to constitute a real danger for the State. Events like the rising in central Germany and the earlier sanguinary disturbance in Berlin, in which the then prefect of police, Eichhorn, an Independent Socialist, played a very dubious part, and other dangerous incidents of the kind, were scarcely to be apprehended at the end of 1921. One great reason was that Communism, which was transplanted from Russia at the time of the Revolution, became more and more weakened in Germany. While in the year immediately following the Revolution strike movements bore a thoroughly political character, this was no more the case after the middle of 1920. In 1921 the whole nation was again systematically at work; it was only the con- stant rise in prices of the necessaries of life that exercised a powerful pressure upon the poorer sections of the population and incited them to frequent demands for higher wages and consequently to strikes. It was found impossible to maintain State control of traffic in the necessities of life. In particular the State could not permanently burden its finances by a standing subvention for the purpose of reducing the retail cost of articles of food. The system of control was therefore gradually replaced by internal free trade. This, it is true, was attended by an increase in food prices, which were further sent up by constant deterioration of the mark exchange to Germany's disadvantage. Not only the working classes, but also, in an especial degree, the officials suffered, and the latter class was reduced to a condition which more and more tended to herd them socially into the ranks of the proletariat. The same applied to intellectual workers and salaried employees. The constant recurrence of strikes with the object of maintaining the standard of living constituted a danger for the economic future of the country, especially as every increase of wages automatically led to an in- crease in the price of commodities. In the financial situation in which Germany found herself at the end of 1921, and in view of the vast payments which she had to make in consequence of the Reparations imposed upon her, the end of these unsound condi- tions was not yet in view. The financial demands of the State, too, were constantly increasing taxation. Germany was willing to work, but it was considered that the possibility of economically fruitful work could be secured only if Germany's creditors did not make excessive demands upon her and if they gave her time and means for carrying out those obligations of labour and payment which she had undertaken. (O. B.)
GHENT (see 11.919*). Pop. (1914) 169,473, .or, including suburbs (1910), nearly 250,000. The city measures 26 km. in circumference, much space being taken up by nurseries and gardens, Ghent having become a most important horticultural centre, especially for the cultivation of azaleas, rhododendrons, begonias, orchids, etc., under glass. Linen-weaving has greatly developed as a main industry and schools of industry and mechanics have been established. In 1913 1,363 vessels of over one million tonnage entered the port, and transport by smaller river craft represented an equal tonnage.
The original panels of the famous " Worship of the Lamb " by Hubert and Jan van Eyck, which had been dispersed since
- These figures indicate the volume and page number of the previous article.
