Mr. Bonar Law, judging by his official communiqué after the breakdown of the conference, seems to have raised the same objections to these pledges as I put forward at the August conference.
They would bring in nothing comparable to the cost of collection;
They would provoke much disturbance and irritation and might lead to consequences of a very grave character.
In fact, these pledges are nothing but paper and provocation.
The customs barrier on the Rhine was tried once before, and was a complete failure.
It was tried then as a sanction and not as a means of raising money. For the former purpose it may have achieved some measure of success, but from the point of view of collecting money it was a ludicrous fiasco.
There are at the present moment hundreds of millions of paper marks collected at these new tollhouses still locked up in the safe of the Reparations Commission. They are admittedly worthless.
As long as these tolls lasted, they were vexatious; they interfered with business; they dealt lightly with French luxuries working their way into Germany, but laid a heavy hand on all useful commodities necessary to the industry and life of the people.
They were ultimately withdrawn by consent. M. Poincaré now seeks to revive them.
The seizure of German forests and mines will inevitably lead to even more serious consequences. The allied control established in the far interior of Germany would require protection.