-4- of American investment in Germany as a figure comparable with the amounts of private invest- ment. The amount of the Reichsmark obligations was originally established by converting dollar amounts into Reichsmarks at 23.8 cents. When the Reichsmark amounts are converted back into dollars at the current exchange rate of 40.33 cents, the 1,015,005,077.36 total indebtedness for costs of the American Army of Occupation is equal to $409,351,547.70 and the 2,087,940,000 Reichsmark indebtedness for mixed claims awards is equal to $842,066,202, these amounts being about 69 percent greater than the dollars which would have been payable had the dollax not subsequently been de- valuated. The debt agreement provides that the obligations of Germany to pay annuities on mixed claims awards "shall cease as soon as all of the payments contemplated by the Settlement of War Claims Act of 1928 have been completed and the bonds not then matured evidencing such obligations shall be canceled and returned to Germany". The balance- due payment for mixed claims awards as of Sep- tember 30, 1938 is only $157,697,841.57, but the awards are interest-beaxing and a few new awards may still be made so that the amount eventually payable cannot now be determined. Moreover, as the German Government bonds held hy the United States Treasury are non-interest-bearing until the respective bond has become due and has been defaulted, the amount of the bonds, being a sum of annuities payable over a long period of future years, is not directly comparable to the figures for private investments For all these reasons, although the Treasury must list among its assets Reichsmark bonds of the German Government equiv- alent to about $1,250,000,000 par value at current rates of exchange, a tabulation listing this amount in the same column with $713,000,000 of private investments would give a distorted picture. 5. The bonds of the Austrian relief debt are also non-interest-bearing annuities, the accrued unpaid interest of $25,000.33 having been incurred only by virtue of the Hoover Moratorium arrangements. 6. SEE ORIGINAL |