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Show I; '; ' BUYING THE MARK. ' With the circus was a dwarf who has the reputation of being one of the cleverest business nien in the show business. Tie was born in Switzerland of German parentage and, of course, has an abiding . , faith in the German people. As a natural prompting, he is express-) express-) ing his confidence in Teutonic frugality, energy and. talent by buying buy-ing the mark. His friends have cautioned him by declaring that the Germany of old has gone, never to return. Without the kaiser and , autocratic guidance, they assert, the German empire is doomed to a '1 positon inferior to that of 1914, and the people, less firmly held ) to the rigid requirements of a government which was all discipline. ; will begin to develop some of the loose characteristics of other pco- pie, and, therefore, the recovery will be painfully slow and years Will' go by before the unit of value in Berlin will be restored to par k in foreign exchange. L But the little man goes on buying the mark, and has accumu- V lated great wealth as expressed in the German coin. He has been putting away $100 a month, in exchange for the mark, and each ; ' month he has been receiving 7500 marks, in two years having had i placed to his credit 180,000 marks. Should the mark be restored to par this would represent a value in American money of $42,S76. There is an element of gamble in this, but the prospects of win-I win-I ning are so great as to prove most inviting to any one who believes I Germany will emerge from its present position of depression and , again become a solvent nation, industrially and commercially reconstructed recon-structed and restored. If the allies cut down the obligations imposed im-posed at Versailles, a restoration of Germany within twenty years is possible. Germany is not the only country with a depreciated currency. Even the pound sterling which for years stood the test of commerce as though possessed of unchangeable intrinsic value, is quoted at $3.82, or a discount of over 21 per cent. The frano is selling at C cents, although its par value is 19.3 cents. The currency of Italy and Belgium has dropped from 67 to 77 per cent. Any foreign exchange today is a tempting investment for Americans, Amer-icans, i i ' - |