Mr. Lloyd George went on to show that Germany had
made no effort to impose adequate taxation, either during or since the war. Her direct taxes were not fully collected. Her indirect taxes were ridiculously' low, as compared with ours. On beer, for instance, the excise is less than a sixth of the British excise ; on spirits the excise is a fourth ; on sugar the tax is a ninth of ours. Until Germany imposed taxation at least equal to that of Great Britain or France, she could not plead poverty as an excuse. Mr. Lloyd George declined to waste time on the provocative counter-proposals. The Allies had given Germany time and yet she had failed to fulfil most important clauses of the Peace Treaty, in regard to the delivery r • 113f war oriminals, disarmament, and the immediate 71,000,000,000. The Allies would not allow any r paltering with the Treaty.
