ABSTRACT
At the beginning of 1930 the statesmen and economic experts of the nations were entirely oblivious to the fundamental nature and sweeping extent of the crisis which had then just begun. At The Hague they concluded an agreement in January 1930, which was based on the recommendations of the Young Committee. These recommendations reckoned Germany's capacity to pay as it may have appeared to an optimist early in 1929 on the assumption that prosperity would continue and increase during the following decades. Apparently, the Wall Street slump in itself was not sufficient to make the world realise the futility of fixing reparations payments on such optimistic assumptions. Of all those responsible for the drafting of the Young Report, Dr. Schacht alone had the courage to repudiate his signature, and even he was right for the wrong reason. It was not the comparatively small amount of additional burden of the special Belgian claim, and a few other items which induced Dr. Schacht to resign rather than sign, that rendered the Young Plan impracticable. It was the fundamental turn in the tide introduced by the Wall Street slump that would have justified a change of opinion about Germany's capacity to pay.
