The balance of the past month on the foreign exchange market is devastating.
January had started with a dollar price of around 7,400 marks, by January 10 Kabel New York had increased to just over 10,000 marks under the effect of signs of the Franco-Belgian act of violence.
When the troops of France and Belgium started moving on January 11, when a policy of ruthless violence, disregarding treaties and law, which was intensifying from day to day and apparently by no means completed today, developed and immediately the gravest threats not only for the areas subject to the sphere of influence of the foreign armies, but for all of Germany and its economy, which had been hit in the vital nerve, panic developed, which initially led to a dollar price of about 50.
The pound sterling, quoted at 33,750 marks on January 2, exceeded the value of 200,000 marks, the Swiss franc shows a rise from 1,380 marks to over 9,000. That means: Since the beginning of the month, in four weeks, the external value of the German currency fallen to about the seventh part, understood: After it had already shown the low of almost 1/2600 of the peace parity at the beginning of January.
This complete development, which as good as excludes any hope of gradual reconstruction out of itself, is the expression of the catastrophe that France and Belgium have unleashed on us and our economy.
At a moment when the country's economic and political destiny was being called into question like never before by violent intervention from outside, the most serious disruptions in the foreign exchange market had to become unavoidable.
Not only the state balance sheet, which is burdened with new and unprecedented burdens, whose most important sources of income - just think of the coal tax - and the tax power of the newly occupied areas that have been thrown into disarray as well as the previously occupied areas that are falling into increasing turmoil - are being called into question.
The political events had to have an even stronger and devastating effect on the private sector, on all circles whose business existence is connected with the development of the foreign exchange situation.
Extraction and shipping of Ruhr coal are falling, only foreign coal, especially English coal, which was also fought over by other European countries after the development of the Ruhr conflict, can give hope for a reasonably orderly continuation of work in unoccupied Germany.
The demand for foreign exchange for these imports threatens to become monstrous.
And at the same time, if exports develop less than satisfactorily - any serious political disruption of this kind hits back at the world market and its sales power - the foreign exchange for the additionally necessary food and general raw material imports must be satisfied.
Today, Germany, which is beset by armed violence and economic terror, lacks the credit of the world market more than ever.
This severe crisis prepared the ground for the panic that the FX market is in today.
The handing-over hand holds back foreign exchange holdings, a natural phenomenon at a time when the replacement of foreign currency for business foreign trade purposes shows unmeasured increases in cost from day to day, only the most necessary currency is made available to the Reich and the public market.
Hamster phenomena have an aggravating effect - in this direction the agio of up to 1000 marks per dollar at times, which has developed in banknote trading compared to the payment rates, is aggravating,
although the regular needs of tourism may have contributed to this special phenomenon.
It is significant that the turnovers, under which the fantastic high development of the foreign currency takes place, are comparatively modest in most cases, since an enormous demand is constantly faced with a very small supply, the conditions for panic courses are given.