4. The obligation arising from the treaty is an absolute one; the capacity to pay can only be taken into consideration to establish the number and amount of the annual payments; the total must in any case be paid within thirty years or more. 5. _Elle ou nous_. Germany must pay; if she doesn't the Allies must pay. It is not necessary that Germany free herself by a certain date; it is only necessary that she pay all. 6. Germany has not to discuss, only to pay. Let time illustrate what is at present unforeseeable, etc. etc. If we exclude the third means of payment Germany has two ways open to her. First of all she can give goods. What goods? When we speak of goods we really mean coal. Now, as we have seen, according to the treaty Germany must furnish for ten years to Belgium, Italy, and France especially quantities of coal, which in the first five years run from 39-1/2 to 42 millions of tons, and in the following five years come to a maximum of about 32 millions. And all this when she has lost the Saar coalfields and is faced with the threatening situation in Upper Silesia. Germany's exports reached their maximum in 1913, when the figures touched 10,097 millions of marks, excluding precious metals. Grouping exports and imports in categories, the millions of marks were distributed as follows: Imports. Exports. Foodstuffs 2,759 1,035 Live animals 289 7.4 Raw materials 5,003 1,518 Semi-manufactured goods 5,003 1,139 Manufactured goods 1,478 6,395 About one-fifth of the entire exports was in iron and machine products (1,337 [mil.] articles in iron, 680 machines); 722 millions from coal (as against imports of other qualities of 289), 658 millions of chemical products and drugs, 446 from cotton, 298 paint, 290 techno-electrical productions, etc. What goods can Germany give in payment of the indemnity? We have seen how she has lost a very large part of her iron and a considerable quantity of her coal. All the economic force of Germany was based upon: (a) The proper use of her reserves of coal and iron, which allowed her to develop enormously those industries which are based on these two elements. (b) On her transport and tariff system, which enabled her to fight any competition. (c) On her potent overseas commercial organization. Now, by effect of the treaty, these three great forces have been entirely or in part destroyed.