The German Reichstag authorised extraordinary expenditure to the extent of £250,000,000 to be obtained by a loan, and a further sum of £14,000,000 to be drawn on the gold and silver reserve of the Empire. It is now well known that the tax of 5 per cent. on the stock of notes issued by the Reichsbank over and above its reserve in metal has been suppressed. The German Government will therefore secure the loan required by an issue of bank notes uncovered by a reserve of gold and silver. This issue reminds one of the assignats of the first French Revolution, of which a few samples are kept as curious heirlooms in French families. It was stated in Paris that the Austrian army on a war footing cost the Empire £800,000 a day, but the Austrian Treasury was emptied by the mobilisation during the Balkan wars, which drained the financial resources of the Empire for more than a year, and it is hard to see where the Austrian Monarchy can find the large sums required to keep the Imperial and Royal armies and navy during the present war. There were many reasons that might be brought forward to show how Mr. Lloyd George was justified in asserting that England could stand the financial strain better than Germany. One great factor was responsible for this, namely, the command of the sea. It is true that during the war our trade with Germany, Russia, and France must be practically at a standstill. There are even pessimists who say that our general European trade must be severely crippled until the campaign is over. Even if we assume this to be the case, however, there is, relatively speaking, no cause for despondency. Our exports last year were valued at over £525,000,000. If most of these exports had been sent to European countries, there might possibly be some ground for concern. Of the huge total, however, the countries with which we are at war, Germany and Austria, took exports from us to the value of only £45,000,000; and our exports to every European country, including Germany and Austria, amounted to less than £180,000,000.