Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- General introduction
- Note to the reader
- 1 THE DECLINE OF THE MARK, 1921–1922
- 2 NEW GOVERNMENTS, NEW ATTEMPTS AT SETTLEMENT, 1922–1923
- 3 CORRESPONDENCE WITH A MUTUAL FRIEND, JANUARY-JUNE 1923
- 4 THE RUHR IMPASSE, JUNE–OCTOBER 1923
- 5 A BREATHING SPACE—THE DAWES PLAN, 1923–1928
- 6 SEARCH FOR A FINAL SETTLEMENT—THE YOUNG PLAN, 1928–1930
- 7 HOW IT ENDED
- List of Documents Reproduced
- Index
2 - NEW GOVERNMENTS, NEW ATTEMPTS AT SETTLEMENT, 1922–1923
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- General introduction
- Note to the reader
- 1 THE DECLINE OF THE MARK, 1921–1922
- 2 NEW GOVERNMENTS, NEW ATTEMPTS AT SETTLEMENT, 1922–1923
- 3 CORRESPONDENCE WITH A MUTUAL FRIEND, JANUARY-JUNE 1923
- 4 THE RUHR IMPASSE, JUNE–OCTOBER 1923
- 5 A BREATHING SPACE—THE DAWES PLAN, 1923–1928
- 6 SEARCH FOR A FINAL SETTLEMENT—THE YOUNG PLAN, 1928–1930
- 7 HOW IT ENDED
- List of Documents Reproduced
- Index
Summary
The new German government headed by Wilhelm Cuno was an uneasy coalition with a predominantly industrial interest. Its prospects for success were not favourable. Melchior wrote to Keynes (2 December 1922):
I have returned today from Berlin where I spoke with several members of the new Cabinet. I hope that in Germany we shall now proceed to …a more active policy of our own as far as the reparation questions are concerned. In view of the actual French designs it is, however, doubtful whether such attitude may still have any practical results…
The French were rumoured to be planning to take over authority in the already-occupied Rhinelands and to expel unfriendly German officials, confiscate German property and seize the Ruhr coalfields.
Melchior's letter of 2 December crossed the following letter from Keynes written a day earlier. Melchior's letter of 21 November defending the German Note, to which Keynes refers, was not kept in his papers. The Note in question was the German Note to the Reparation Commission of 14 November, the day that the Wirth Cabinet resigned, which stated that Germany could not stabilise the mark without the support of a foreign loan, and asked for a moratorium on all payments except those to devastated areas.
To CARL MELCHIOR, 1 December 1922
Dear Melchior,
Thanks for your letter of November 21st. I quite see that the German Note can be defended on the basis of its being ambiguous and not really deciding clearly in favour either of the four experts [signers of the majority report on the stabilisation of the mark] or of the three experts [signers of the minority report].
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- The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes , pp. 85 - 120Publisher: Royal Economic SocietyPrint publication year: 1978
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