Finance

The indefatigable Herr Rudolf Hilferding, Minister of Finance for the Reich, outlined a grand scheme of radical finance reform, which made provision for three different currencies:

Geldwertmark or bodenmark, meaning " gold-value mark." The Reichsbank is to be the only source of issue for new paper currency that will probably be secured by 40% to 50% of gold coverage instead of the original legal one-third.

Sachwertnoten, meaning " real-value notes," which are to be secured by a real-value capital levy of 5%.

Nichtswerthpapiermark, meaning worthless paper mark, which continued as legal tender at .00000060 cents to the mark, or 166,666,666 marks to the dollar. It seemed certain that Herr Hilferding's bill would be passed by the Reich.

The Allies--France and Belgium--swooped down upon unsuspecting Germans at Essen, Recklinghausen, Dortmund and dragged away 1,700,000,000,000 marks. It did not matter; the Reichsbank has more than 1,182,038,536,000,000 more paper marks, and at the present rate they may even reach the impossible figure of a quintillion, i.e., 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 marks.

Berlin police began a search for foreign currency, principally dollars and pounds. On the Friedrichstrasse and the Kurfuerstendam, 27 raids took place and vast quantities of real money was confiscated. Foreigners were treated like nationals, except when they could prove that they were in transit, when they were allowed to keep their money. All persons received the privilege of calling at the police station after two days to receive the value of their money in marks.

Because of the proposed heavy burden of taxation, Die Rote Fahne (Red Flag), Berlin Communist daily, published a proclamation: " We are the organized power, but we can conquer only when every Communist is filled with sacred, tireless zeal for the revolution! "

In South Baden, Communists called a general strike against "new tax burdens." Three deaths were caused and hundreds of arrests were made. The strike continued. Switzerland strengthened the frontier guard and the Government of Baden proclaimed a notfallzustand (state of emergency) with a curfew at 10 p. m.

The postage stamp was abolished in Germany, owing to the cost of printing being greater than the face value of the stamps. Hereafter German letters will bear a cancellation indicating that postage has been paid. The lightest letter from Germany costs, at the present rate of exchange, 200,000 marks to deliver in the U. S.