102

A REVISION OF l^HE TREATY

CHAP.

which, accompanied some articles by M. Brenier(December 4, 1920), wrote with an air of noblecontempt—" Mr. Keynes treats their losses as matterfor statistics." But chaos and poverty will continueas long as we insist on treating statistics as an emo-tional barometer and as a convenient vehicle ofsentiment. In the following examination of figureslet us agree that we are employing them to measurefacts and not as a literary expression of love or hate.

Leaving on one side for the present the items ofpensions and allowances and loans to Belgium , letus examine the data relating to the material damagein Northern France. The claims made by the FrenchGovernment did not vary very much from the springof 1919, when the Peace Conference was sitting, downto the spring of 1921, when the Reparation Com-mission was deciding its assessment, though thefluctuations in the value of the franc over that periodcause some confusion. Early in 1919 M. Dubois,speaking on behalf of the Budget Commission of theChamber, gave the figure of 65 milliard francs " asa minimum," and on February 17,1919, M. Loucheur,speaking before the Senate as Minister of IndustrialReconstruction, estimated the cost at 75 milliards atthe prices then prevailing. On September 5, 1919,M. Klotz, addressing the Chamber as Minister ofFinance, put the total French claims for damage toproperty (presumably inclusive of losses at sea, etc.)at 134 milliards. In July 1920 M. Dubois, by that