iv THE REPARATION BILL 105

inflating the French claim against Germany very-mater ially.

At this rate the claim of 127 milliard paper francsfor material damage was equivalent to 57-7 milliardgold marks, of which the chief items were as follows :

Francs (paper),millions.

Marks (gold),millions.

Industrial damages

38,882

17,673

Damage to houses

36,892

16,768

Furniture and fittings .

25,119

11,417

Unbuilt-on land ....

21,671

9,850

State property ....

1,958

890

Public works ....

2,583

1,174

Total.....

127,105

57,772

This total, equivalent to £2886 million gold, is onewhich I believe to be a vast, indeed a fantastic,exaggeration beyond anything which it would bepossible to justify under cross-examination. At thedate when I wrote The Economic Consequences of thePeace, exact statistics as to the damage done were notavailable, and it was only possible to fix a maximumlimit to a reasonable claim, having regard to thepre-war wealth of the invaded districts. Now, how-ever, much more detail is available with which tocheck the claim.

The following particulars are quoted from a state-ment made by M. Briand in the French Senate onApril 6, 1921, supplemented by an official memo-