A deficit of a milliard per month! A thousand million marks expenditure
over income per month! That was the disagreeable message with which
the Chancellor greeted the assembling of the new Parliament. The only
wonder is that this could be kept secret until after the elections.
But it is now high time to look into this matter, and see that some
improvement is made.
For a long time past there have been signs in all directions that
something or other was wrong. When going to make purchases you were
told, only too often, that such and such an article had just run out
of stock, and that a fresh supply would not come in for some little
time. It now comes out, however, that this was due, not to an increase
in the demand, but to a decrease in the supply. Things got so bad that
there was often the greatest difficulty experienced in obtaining the
most indispensable articles of clothing. In the case of other articles
of daily use you had frequently either to go without, or to put up
with the most old-fashioned and antiquated things which had been left
on hand ever so long. All import goods, such as coffee, petroleum,
farinaceous foods, and so on, were so high in price as to be scarcely
procurable.
Indeed, in no respects can it be said that the people have lived
in luxury and riot. At dinner, the meat rations have remained
nominally the same as at first, viz. one-third of a pound per head.
But, latterly, there have been unpleasant innovations in respect of
including bone, gristle, fat and similar unprofitable matter in the
gross weight of the rations. The vegetable part of the bill of fare
has been also much simplified, and is now restricted to potatoes,
peas, beans, and lentils. On Bebel day the increased meat ration and
the free glass of beer which had been looked for were conspicuous
by their absence. The strictest economy extends even to the matter
of pepper, salt, and spices. On all hands there are complaints that
the tastelessness and sameness of the dishes are such as to produce
nausea, even in those who have the most robust appetites. What little
conversation there is at meal times tends more and more in the
direction of talk about sickness and internal complaints.
So far as appearances seem to indicate, our population, in spite of
the considerable emigration which has taken place, may count upon a
rapid increase as a result of the undertaking on the part of the State
to bring up all children free of cost. But notwithstanding this, no
measures are taken to meet the demand, and even here in Berlin there is
scarcely any building going on. Even the most indispensable repairs
are constantly being postponed. No longer is there a syllable dropped
about alterations and improvements anywhere; about the renewal of
machinery and stores; about the building of new mills, or works, or the
enlargement of old ones; or about the construction of new railways.
All stores for daily consumption seem to have dwindled down to a
minimum. The only stocks we have are of such things that there is
little or no demand for. What other stocks there are consist of such
goods as we formerly sent abroad, but which there is now, especially in
socialistic countries, no longer any sale for. These goods are gloves,
silks, velvets, pianos, wines, embroidered and fancy goods, etc. etc.
All such articles may now be had in the home-markets at less than cost
price, for the mere sake of getting rid of them.
From month to month the deficit seems to grow greater instead of less,
in spite of all attempts to grapple with the difficulty. Even the
stocks of raw material and auxiliary material begin to show signs of
not being long able to keep the various works fully going. Foreign
merchants everywhere have ceased sending any goods to Germany on
credit, or otherwise than against an immediate exchange of goods to the
same value.
Unpromising as this state of affairs looks, the Government cannot
really be reproached with having regulated consumption without a due
amount of previous forethought. From the statement made at the opening
of the new Parliament, it seems that, from pretty accurate calculations
made, the value of the entire productivity of the country, immediately
anterior to the Revolution, had been from 17 to 18 milliards of
marks annually. The Government took this as a basis, and did not
even calculate on any possible increase in the value of the nation’s
productivity under a new system of things. It simply went on the
assumption that this value would remain at least the same, and would
not diminish through the maximum working-day being fixed at eight
hours. The calculation of the amount of consumption per head of the
population was based upon this assumption. But even if the Government
had proved right, it is quite evident that the majority of the nation
has so far not been placed on a better footing, but on a worse one,
than it was in before the great Revolution, to say nothing of all the
restrictions placed upon personal and commercial liberty.
A short time, however, sufficed to show that the value of the nation’s
productiveness sank down to one-third of what it had formerly been.
From 18 milliard marks a year it went down to six milliards, or from
one and a half milliards per month to half a milliard. In this way we
have a deficit of a milliard per month. In four months this amounts to
a loss equal to the war contribution which France had to pay to Germany
in the great war of past days.
What will this land us in? and where are we to look for help? The next
sitting of Parliament is awaited with considerable excitement and
interest, as the Chancellor intends then to go into the reasons of the
deficit.