Reparation Economics

Came the news that Germany's imports and exports for 1923 were:

Imports, 6,081,391,000 gold marks.

Exports, 6,079,154,000 gold marks.

Export deficit, 2,237,000 gold marks.

It has been stated, and also denied, that Germany can pay her cash reparations bill only from a large export surplus. The alternative to this is some from of capital levy. What Germany must pay in kind has nothing to do with what she must pay in gold. The only way, excepting a capital levy, in which Germany can collect gold is by selling more than is bought. That is the unchangeable A B C of the situation.