-3- for the benefit of cotton shippers unless dollars are already available in the Cotton Shippers Exchange Fund. In other words, should the Export-Import Bank find it impossible to sell the reichsmarks even at the low dollar price of $.2382, cotton shippers would find it impossible to get payment in terms of American money. 2. The Purpose of the Plan. From the American standpoint, the plan is designed to facilitate the export of cotton to Germany. The argument is made by Germany that she cannot continue to buy cotton from the United States unless she can find the necessary dollar exchange through exports to the United States. From the German standpoint, the plan is designed to facilitate German exports by means of a device which, in effect, subsidizes German exports to the United States. Germany has hitherto sought to stimulate German exports by means of the discount on the various varieties of blocked marks. Foreign holders of German securities have, in effect, been called upon to subsidize German exports through the device of thediscount on blocked marks, and also through the profits realized from the purchase of German securities in foreign countries at a discount. There has been some discussion of a general plan to tax all German importers and use the funds so derived to subsidize directly German exports. The proposed plan is |