At the present time it is not only the food Western
Germany needs that is being brought from the United
Slates. Kitchen utensils and beds, cleansing liquids and
mops, as well as wine and cake are being imported. Of
course, there are foreign merchants who have an intexest
in this. But under present conditions this leads to an
enormous inflation of foreign debt, which lies as a burden
on Germany. Yet the Germans can produce all this them-
selves, and a great many other things besides, without
getting into dollar debt. All that is needed is that the reha-
bilitation of the peace branches of German industry should
not be hampered.
Urnider the American ptan it is proposed, furthermore,
to render so-called "financial add1' in the coming year to
the extent of 1,150 million dollars. But again, the Germans
are not being asked whether the terms of these new credits
are acceptable to them. And since industry in the Western
zones is not being developed, the Germans have no possibil-
ity of paying back these credits. The German debt in the
Western zones wall soon reach several billions of dollars,
For the German people, these obligations will be harder
to bear than any reparations. If the hampering of industry
and the disintegration of idle industrial equipment is not
brought to am end, and the debts go' on increasing, an in-
tolerable burden of foreign debt will fall on the shoulders
of the Germans.
The growth of dollar indebtedness) in the Western
zones places the whole economy of the western part of
Germany in a state of dependence on other countries, es-
pecially the United States. Germany's industry is to an ever
increasing degree becoming subordinated to American and
other foreign monopolies. The dependence of the economic
life of the western part of Germany on the United States
is increasing from day to day, and it ,is no longer possible
538