In September 1921 the Reparation Commission published an approximate estimate, as follows, of the cost of occupation of German territory by the Allied Armies from the Armistice until May 1, 1921:
| Total cost. | Cost per man per day. | |
| United States | $278,067,610 | $4.50 |
| Great Britain | £52,881,298 | 14s. |
| France | Frs. 2,304,850,470 | Frs. 15.25 |
| Belgium | Frs. 378,731,390 | Frs. 16.50 |
| Italy | Frs. 15,207,717 | Frs. 22 |
The conversion of these sums into gold marks raises the usual controversy as to the rates at which conversion is to be effected. The total was estimated, however, at three milliard gold marks,[80] of which one milliard was owed to the United States, one milliard to France, 900 millions to Great Britain, 175 millions to Belgium, and 5 millions to Italy. On May 1, 1921, France had about 70,000 soldiers on the Rhine, Great Britain about 18,000, and the United States a trifling number.
The net result of the transitional period was, therefore, as follows:
(1) Putting on one side State property transferred to Poland, the whole of the transferable wealth obtained from Germany in the two and a half years following the Armistice under all the rigors of the Treaty, designed as they were to extract every available liquid asset, just about covered the costs of collection, that is to say, the expenses of the Armies of Occupation, and left nothing over for Reparation.
(2) But as the United States has not yet been paid the milliard owing to her for her Army, the other Allies have received between them on balance a surplus of about one milliard. This surplus was not divided amongst them equally. Great Britain had received 450–500 million gold marks less than her expenses, Belgium 300–350 million more than her expenses, and France 1000–1200 millions more than her expenses.[81]
Under the strict letter of the Treaty those Allies who had received less than their share might have claimed to be paid the difference in cash by those who had received more. This situation and the allocation of the milliard paid by Germany between May and August 1921 were the subject of the Financial Agreement provisionally signed at Paris on August 13, 1921. This Agreement chiefly consisted of concessions to France, partly by Belgium, who agreed in effect to a partial postponement of her priority charge on two milliards out of the first sums received from Germany for Reparation, and partly by Great Britain, who accepted for the purposes of internal accounting amongst the Allies themselves a lower value for the coal delivered by Germany than the value fixed by the Treaty.[82] In view of these concessions about future payment, the first milliard in cash, received after May 1, 1921, was divided between Great Britain and Belgium, the former receiving 450 million gold marks in discharge of the balance still due to her in respect of the costs of occupation, and the balance falling to the latter as a further instalment of her agreed priority charge. This Agreement was represented in the French press as laying new burdens upon France, or at least as withdrawing existing rights from her. But this was not the case. The Agreement was directed throughout to moderating the harshness with which the letter of the Treaty and the arrangements of Spa would have operated against France.[83]
The actual value of these deliveries is a striking example of how far the value of deliverable articles falls below the estimates which used to be current. The Reparation Commission have stated that the credit which Germany will receive in respect of her Mercantile Marine will amount to about 755 million gold marks. This figure is low, partly because many of the ships were disposed of after the slump in tonnage.[84] Nevertheless, this was one of the tangible assets of great value, which it was customary at one time to invoke in answer to those who disputed Germanyʼs capacity to make vast payments. What does it amount to in relation to the bill against her? The bill is 138 milliard gold marks, on which interest at 6 per cent for one year is 8280 million gold marks. That is to say, Germanyʼs Mercantile Marine in its entirety, of which the surrender humbled so much pride and engulfed so vast an effort, would about meet a monthʼs charges.