Thus this Allied Ultimatum which has been so often held up to scorn and ridicule as an attempt at impossible and unconscionable extortion was in fact really rather an effort at moderation. It looks as if the £6,600,000,000 touch was put in to amuse the gallery in all the countries concerned, and produce an impression that the big promises that had been made might perhaps be fulfilled some day, while the actual amount definitely named was reasonable, and yet provision was made for the possibility that Germany's recovery might be much more rapid and complete than then seemed to be likely.
It was in fact a quite workable plan with one very important exception. The fixed sum of £100,000,000 a year, to be forthcoming at once, looked doubtfully large and one felt that it would better have been reduced with an addition to the sum to be based on the volume of Germany's exports. Nevertheless there seemed to be first a possibility that the scheme might work. But it was not to be. Such opinion here as had long been eloquent on the theme that the Allied claims on Germany were extravagant and impossible, loudly proclaimed that the task imposed was too heavy. These vociferations helped to make themselves true by frightening speculators in German marks
