A Revision of the Treaty: Being a Sequel to The Economic Consequence of the PeaceKeynes, John Maynard
History
A Revision of the Treaty: Being a Sequel to The Economic Consequence of the Peace
Keynes, John Maynard
Treaty of Versailles (1919 June 28); World War, 1914-1918 -- Reparations
Germany’s obligation being stated in terms of gold and not in terms
of commodities, provision has necessarily been made in all cases
for crediting Germany, from time to time, with the fair value, as
assessed by the Reparation Commission, of such deliveries. Moreover,
since the proportions received by the respective Powers in kind need
not necessarily correspond exactly with their respective shares
in Germany’s reparation payments, as determined by Inter–Allied
agreement, provision is further necessarily made in the Treaty
to render each Power accountable not only to Germany, but to the
Reparation Commission, for the value of these deliveries. Thus, on
the one hand, the Treaty stipulates as between the Allies and Germany
that the value of services under the Annexes shall be credited towards
the liquidation of Germany’s general obligation, and the Schedule
of Payments assigns the value of Annex deliveries to the service of
the bonds handed over by Germany as security for her debt. On the
other hand, the Treaty provides that for the purpose of equitable
distribution as between the Allies, the value of Annex deliveries
shall be reckoned in the same manner as cash payments effected in the
year, and the Schedule of Payments stipulates that the value of the
deliveries received by each Power shall, within one month of the date
of delivery, be paid over to the Reparation Commission, either in cash
or in current coupons.
Further, the Treaty imposes upon the Reparation Commission not only the
duty of fixing prices, but also of determining the capacity of Germany
to deliver goods demanded by any of the Allies, and, by implication,
of deciding between the competing demands which are made upon that
capacity by the Allies themselves.
The Wiesbaden Agreement provides for the delivery by a German
company[116] to French “sinistrés” of “all plant and materials
compatible with the productive capacity of Germany, her supply of
raw materials and her domestic requirements,” that is to say, of the
articles and materials which can be demanded under Annex IV. and
Paragraph 19 of Annex II., which are, by the terms of the Agreement,
in so far as France is concerned, virtually suspended, the obligations
of Germany to deliver to France under the other Annexes remaining
unaffected.
Any question as to the capacity of Germany to satisfy the requirement
of France, and all questions of price, are to be settled by a
Commission of three members, one French and one German, and a third
selected by common agreement or nominated by the Swiss President.
The aggregate value of the deliveries to be made under the Agreement,
and of the deliveries to be made under Annexes III., V. and VI.
(hereafter, for the sake of brevity, called the “Annex deliveries”) in
the period expiring on the 1st May 1926, is fixed at a maximum of 7
milliard gold marks.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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