The Prime Minister was asked by a Labour Party deputation
on Thursday, December 15th, to reduce the demand for repara- tion from Germany. He pointed out in his reply that France had few unemployed because she was striving to restore the ravaged departments, and that Germany also had few because she was living on artificial credit which stimulated a temporary demand for goods but could not endure. We were bound to see that Germany paid to the utmost of her capacity for the damage that she had done. The difficulty was to determine the best method of exacting reparation. Mr. Lloyd. George said that he was ready to discuss the War debts with the other Powers ; if only one Power cancelled its foreign loans it would not help much. As for Russia, who owed us £561,000,000, she had first to persuade traders of her good faith and of her ability to export goods. Until she was prepared to pay for imports, trade with her would languish.
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