The German exchange collapsed last week. The mark, nominally worth
a shilling, was quoted at 962 to the pound sterling last Saturday. This week its value is still lower. On Tuesday the rate was at one moment 1,275 marks to the pound, On Wednesday it was 965. Four marks are worth no more than a penny, partly because the German Government go on printing immense quantities of paper money and partly because foreign investors, who have- been foolishly speculating in marks since the Armistice, have now taken fright and sold their holdings at any price. Their loss is Germany's gain, whether or not, as some think, the German financiers have deliberately contrived this crisis in the exchange. It is difficult to see how Germany can now buy raw materials for.her industries, though she can sell her products at ridiculously low• prices, as measured in sterling. Her- next step may be to repudiate her existing currency, as the French repudiated the " assignats."
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