Is Germany Solvent?

After Britain went off the gold standard, the French Premier, M. Laval, went to Washington and agreed with President Hoover that the United States and France should co-operate to maintain the gold standard, and to overhaul and modify inter-Governmental debts. Without this latter, no general improvement in the world's affairs can be relied on, and the world is still waiting to see some tangible results of the Hoover-Laval conversations. World opinion is being steadily marshalled against debts, armaments and tariffs, but is slow to crystallise, and short-term debts are pressing. Germany owes large sums, both short and long. In the years 1924–29 the United States and Britain lent heavily to Germany, publicly and privately. The idea was to finance the Germans for big production. Then came the fall of sales and crash of prices.