ities of the Tsardom. But as the money was in Russian roubles, and
all international exchange had ceased, it too was incapable of being
converted into francs. Thus the two allies, although really flush of
money, were undergoing some of the hardships of impecuniosity, and to
extricate them from this tangle was a task that called for the
exercise of uncommon ingenuity. This happily was forthcoming.

But that was only one aspect of a larger and more momentous business
which the financiers of the Entente Powers had to set themselves to
tackle. Another of its bearings was the effect of the war upon the
rate of exchange of the rouble, which is of moment to all the Allies.
Indeed, so long as the conflict lasts the smooth working of the
financial machines of the three States is of as much moment to each
and all as is the winning of battles and the raising of fresh armies.
In this struggle and at least until the curtain has fallen upon the
final scene, the maintenance of financial credit and the purveyance of
ready cash, together with all the subsidiary issues to which these
operations may give rise, should be discussed and settled in common.

During the present world combat, which has not its like in history,
whether we consider the issues at stake, the number of troops engaged,
or the destructive forces let loose, the ordinary narrow conceptions
of mutual assistance, financial and other, with their jealous care of
flaccid interests, cannot be persisted in. The basic principle on
which it behoves the allied Powers to sustain each other's vitality
can only be the community of resources within the limits traced by
national needs. For our cause is one and indivisible, and a success of
one of the Allies is a success of all. Hence, although we move from
different starting-points and by unconnected roads, we are one
community in motive, tendencies and sacrifices. The sense of Fate,
whose deepening shadow now lies across the civilized nations of the
Old Continent, has evoked the sympathies of the partner peoples for
each other, and temporarily obliterated many of the points of
artificial distinction which owed their existence to national egotism.

Russia's resources, then, were immobilized at the outset of the war.
The minister who had spent thirty-five years in the financial
department of State had resigned shortly before. His successor, a man
of considerable capacity and good intentions, was bereft of the help
of the best permanen