The war loans have been, on paper, most successful. For example, the seventh loan of September, 1917, yielded $3,000,000,000; the eighth loan nearly $4,000,000,000. There was a large amount of ready money in the country and besides this all stocks of raw material have been realized. Large as the loans have been they have not been able to keep pace with the increase of expenditure. Out of the total amount of $30,000,000,000 about $20,000,000,000 have been covered by long-term loans. Of course, owing to the peculiar situation of Germany in relation to her allies, which were dependent upon her financial support, these loans have been raised by the German people themselves. The German Loan Bureaus were criticized at the beginning of the war, and German figures show that only about ten percent. of the national loans were involved in the Loan Bureau scheme. These Loan Bureaus, it was announced, would continue after the declaration of peace. According to the London _Economist_, Germany followed an easy and sure policy of war finance, although the same authority does not hesitate to use the terms "complete financial ruin" in connection with German post-war finance. The whole subject of German inflation is difficult to analyze. The _Economist_ works out a post-war expenditure of $5,000,000,000 a year against a revenue of a billion and a half. Its estimate of German inflation is contained in the following passage: "To take note circulation alone is obviously misleading, particularly in view of the violent efforts that have been made, especially during the last year, to extend the use of the check, and in other ways to limit as far as possible the use of notes. For what these figures are worth, it may be said that the total note circulation of the country at the end of June (1918), including Reichsbank notes, State Bank notes, Treasury notes, and loan notes, stood at £1,030,000,000, as compared with £109,300,000 on July 23, 1914. Reichsbank deposits, again, stood on June 30, at £459,100,000, as compared with £47,600,000 on July 23, 1914, while the deposits of the eight 'great' banks, even at the end of 1917, stood at £800,000,000, as compared with £250,000,000 at the end of 1914, £362,000,000 at the end of 1915, and £500,000,000 at the end of 1916." In this connection it is interesting to give a summary of Germany's war expenses as reported in the London _Economist_: