At the outbreak of the war, of course, the Spandau tower reserve in specie must have gone into the bank, and every metal reserve that the government could lay its hands upon likewise went into the bank.

Germany then boasted a gold reserve approaching 2,000,000,000 marks.

In this month of February the bank gold reserve was put well above 2,000,000,000.
Bank-paper issues meanwhile expanded by the billion.
The great contest in Germany is to maintain this bank metal reserve, and it is the task of Sisyphus and of herculean proportions.

Outside of the United States, Germany has probably little, if any, credit to-day.

She must pay in gold for what she buys from without, and from without she must get copper and oil.