OCR Text |
Show i SUCH GENEROSITY! Under the terms of the Armistice, France is required re-quired to pay Germany 400,000,000 francs a day, ostensibly os-tensibly to cover the cost of maintaining- the German Army of Occupation. This immense sum has been paid since the collapse of French resistance and means, according accord-ing to one estimate, that every man, woman and child of France has contributed 3,750 francs to Germany. The actual cost of maintaining the German Army of Occupation in France is said to be not more than 125,000,000 francs a day. This leaves the Germans a daily profit of 275,000,000 francs. This profit is being used to buy French foodstuffs, food-stuffs, clothing- leather, wool, cotton, and other staples, which are shipped to Germany. Other sums are invested in French industries, utilities, newspapers, theatres, and other enterprises. Plainly, by forcing the French to pay an exorbitant exorbi-tant sum for the cost of maintaining the Army of Occupation, Oc-cupation, Germany secures the funds with which to gradually buy up the materials and possessions of the French people. Recently, it is reported, Hitler has offered to reduce the cost of occupation by twenty-five per cent. This means that he will have a smaller daily profit. Just why the Nazi Dictator is willing to do this remains to be seen, but we suspect that his scheme has already robbed France of most of the things that the Germans can remove to Germany. |