Dr. Wirth, the German Chancellor, told the Reichstag on Tuesday
that Germany could not comply with the coalitions proposed by the Reparation Commission. Its new demands, he said, had caused the mark to fall heavily and had thus upset his recent financial reforms. Germany could not raise £40,000,000 more by new taxes to be adopted before the end of May. Dr.. Wirth asserted that taxation in Germany was far higher than the Allies supposed. He did not, however, reply to the assertion that the taxes, though nominally severe, are not in fact collected. Dr. Wirth repudiated the idea of submitting German finance to foreign control and blamed the Allies for the failure of Germany's efforts to raise foreign loans. It is probably true that Dr. Wirth's Ministry, depending on a loose coalition of unfriendly parties, cannot tax the country so heavily as a stronger Government might do. Yet it is not to the interest of the Allies to drive Dr. Wirth out of office in order to make room for the Prussian Monarchists and reactionaries, who have learned nothing from war and defeat.
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