Der Fuehrer - Hitler's Rise to Power (1944) - Heiden

OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY 673goods in Germany. A German importer might be advised to buy silk inItaly rather than in France, or to purchase wool in the Argentine insteadof in Australia; vacationers who wanted to travel abroad — unless theyhad good reasons to the contrary, or, what amounted to the same thing,high recommendations — were definitely restricted to Italy, or,possibly, Switzerland. In this way the funds flowing back and forthbetween Germany and foreign countries were closely regulated, andcare was taken that they should remain in exact proportion to the streamof goods actually traded. Hideous penalties were proclaimed for takingcash out of Germany. Not a mark was to go abroad for any purpose thatwas not covered by German sales to the country in question, and whichhad not been approved in advance by the foreign draft office. TheGerman mark vanished from foreign markets as an object of trade andspeculation, but remained active in the international exchange of bonafidegoods and services. Like the currency of most countries, itdispensed without bad consequences with the gold coverage that hadformerly been regarded as indispensable, and, like the currency of mostcountries, it had ceased to be real money — that is, a measure of valuehonored for its intrinsic value. It was merely a token of credit, strictlylimited in its use, and worthless outside of its assigned sphere. Thisprocess went so far that German bills, except in connection withtransactions approved by the Reich, ceased to have any real valueoutside of Germany. And so the mark, having ceased to be anindependent measure of value, lost in part the two other functionsusually ascribed to money: the functions of transferring and of storingvalue.It remained questionable whether Germany had saved or destroyedher currency. In any case, she removed it from the international stockexchange and, far more drastically than England, subjected it to thestate. By this step Germany definitely broke with the system ofinternational free trade which the Economic Conference in London wastrying to restore. But the German delegation was not needed to paralyzethis conference. For on July 3, the conference was stunned to receive amessage from President Roosevelt, which called things by their propername and announced America's withdrawal from the plans forinternational stabilization