er; her
total zinc production would be cut down by over three-fifths. Add to
this the enormous shortage of tonnage, machinery, and man-power, the
total loss of her colonies, the shrinkage of available raw stuffs, and
the depreciation of the mark.

At the Conference the Americans maintained their ground. Invoking the
principle laid down by Mr. Wilson and clearly formulated by Mr. Lansing,
they insisted that reparations should be claimed only for damage done to
civilians directly and lawlessly. After a good deal of fencing,
rendered necessary by the pledges given by European statesmen to their
electors, it was decided that the criteria provided by that principle
should be applied. But even with that limitation the sums claimed were
huge. It was alleged by the Germans that some of the demands were for
amounts that exceeded the total national wealth of the country filing
the claim. And as no formula could be devised that would satisfy all the
claimants, it was resolved in principle that, although Germany should be
obliged to make good only certain classes of losses, the Conference
would set no limits to the sums for which she would thus be liable.

At this juncture M. Loucheur suggested that a minimum sum should be
demanded of the enemy, leaving the details to be settled by a
commission. And this was the solution which was finally adopted.[309] It
was received with protests and lamentations, which, however, soon made
place for self-congratulations, official and private.

The French Minister of Finances, for example, drew a bright picture in
the Chamber of the financial side of the Treaty, so far as it affected
his country: "Within two years," he announced, "independently of the
railway rolling stock, of agricultural materials and restitutions, we
receive a part, still to be fixed, of the payment of twenty milliards of
marks in gold; another share, also to be determined, of an emission of
bonds amounting to forty milliard gold marks, bearing interest at the
rate of 2 per cent.; a third part, to be fixed, of German shipping and
dyes; seven million tons of coal annually for a period of ten years,
followed by diminishing quantities during the following years; the
repayment of the expenses of occupation; the right of taking over a part
of Germany's interests in Russia, in particular that of obtaining the
payment of pre-war debts at the pre-war rate of exchange, likewise the
maintenance of such contracts as we may desire to mai