ABSTRACT
Under a system of competing national economies throughout the world, one need not be a cynic to subscribe to the converse of the Prussian general’s dictum that peace is war carried on by other methods. The artificial purchasing power created by the bankers was used to create unstable prosperity in the manufacture of war products, which were then blown into the air with loss to life and property. The bondholding class in Europe had to look on and see prices rise and currencies inflate and the value of their bonds in terms of commodities steadily depreciate. The bankers who influenced the findings of the Dawes Commission approached the economic problem, not from the point of view of securing outlets for the sale of industrial goods or of control over raw-material resources, but rather from the point of view of the interests of the holders of War Bonds. They aimed at settlement of the international debt problem first and foremost.
