At Spa the Entente Powers had promised Germany credits for food and raw materials to make possible the resumption of German production: for it was evident that Germany’s ability to transfer wealth abroad in the form of gold payments was exceedingly limited; that if a serious beginning of large-scale indemnity payments was to be made, Germany would have to sell manufactured articles in foreign markets; and that the factory-workers and miners could not produce effectively unless they were properly fed. At the suggestion of British economists, who had the ear of Lloyd George, a conference of experts met at Brussels on December 16, 1920, to make recommendations to the Entente governments to guide them in granting Germany the credits necessary to render practicable reparations demands. This conference reported that a total indemnity of 100,000,000,000 gold marks was possible, provided Germany received extensive credits for food and raw materials purchased abroad, and that the annual scale of payments be flexibly arranged to meet whatever economic situation might develop. The French press and public opinion did not receive in a kindly fashion the recommendations of the experts. It was pointed out that some months earlier, at Lympne, the British had subscribed to a joint declaration to the effect that “the suffering and economic ruin resulting from the war should not be borne by the nations who did not cause it.” By extending credits to Germany France would be paying to Germany more than she would receive for a long time, and it was preposterous that Germany be allowed to regain her old economic prosperity while the north of France was still in ruins. This was the French attitude when the conference of Paris opened on January 24, 1921, to fix the reparations bill and the method by which it should be paid. The discussion was removed from economic to political ground, and it has remained there since that day. In the beginning, both Great Britain and France had regarded the reparations problem from a political standpoint. In 1920 the British shifted to an economic standpoint. This caused the divergence that was evident at Paris in January, 1921, and in all the conferences that have followed. In 1921 the British remonstrated, but in the end they yielded. After two years, in 1923, they finally felt that it was necessary to break with France on the ground that persistence in demanding the impossible would wreck the economic structure of Europe and create an _impasse_, resulting in irreparable harm to victors as well as vanquished.