A Rabble of Dead Money by Charles R. Morris

Author:Charles R. Morris
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Published: 2017-03-06T16:00:00+00:00

Hugo Stinnes. Crafty, potent, indurate, Herr Hugo Stinnes, coal magnate, multimillionaire, present “All-Highest” of Germany.… His aim is the control of the European steel industries, and, like all mysterious figures who move in the no-man’s-land of international politics, he stands to win whichever side comes out on top.

As Young and Stinnes wound up a discussion that had carried into the wee hours, Stinnes pronounced himself “still unconvinced.” Young shot back: “It is not for me to convince you, but rather you to convince me, as a Report is going to be made quite regardless of the attitude of any person or even the whole group of industrialists.” The magnate got aboard the next day, after Young agreed to a minor technical clarification.26

There was a final flap over the committee’s failure to set a definitive reparations number, which greatly irritated the French. The Germans complained almost as vociferously, but it was a pose—they had every interest in delaying the fixing of a number, so as to gain more time to whittle it down. The Americans and British refused even to make an attempt, given the recent chaos in the German economy—insisting in effect that the Dawes process would establish the boundaries of the possible and desirable, which would later inform a final settlement.

The Report of the First Committee of Experts to the Reparation Commission was released on April 9, 1924. It is a superb piece of work—calm, lucid, comprehensive, and fair. Benjamin Strong, after reviewing it at Young’s request, wrote that it was “a masterpiece of ingenuity.” The most telling accolade, however, came from Keynes, the violent critic of the whole idea of reparations. He wrote in The Nation and Athenaeum on April 12:

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