u6 THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF THE PEACE ch.

Germany for herself until the just claims of Belgium have been fully satisfied. But this is no reason why weor they should not tell the truth about the amount.

While the French claims are immensely greater,here too there has been excessive exaggeration, asresponsible French statisticians have themselvespointed out. Not above 10 per cent of the areaof France was effectively occupied by the enemy,and not above 4 per cent lay within the area ofsubstantial devastation. Of the sixty French townshaving a population exceeding 35,000, only twowere destroyed—Reims (115,178) and St. Quentin(55,571); three others were occupied—Lille , Roubaix,and Douai —and suffered from loot of machinery andother property, but were not substantially injuredotherwise. Amiens, Calais, Dunkerque , and Boulognesuffered secondary damage by bombardment and fromthe air; but the value of Calais and Boulogne musthave been increased by the new works of variouskinds erected for the use of the British Army .

The Annuaire Statistique de la France , 1917,values the entire house property of France at£2,380,000,000 (59*5 milliard francs). 1 An estimatecurrent in France of £800,000,000 (20 milliardfrancs) for the destruction of house propertyalone is, therefore, obviously wide of the mark. 2

1 Other estimates vary from £2420 million to £2680 million. See Stamp,loc. ext.

2 This was clearly and courageously jiointed out by M. Charles Gide inVEmancipation for February 1919.