replacing machinery mounts up slowly, and a few tens of millions would have covered the value of every machine of every possible description that Belgium ever possessed. Besides, the cold statistician must not overlook the fact that the Belgian people possess the instinct of individual self-protection unusually well developed; and the great mass of German bank-notes81 held in the country at the date of the Armistice, shows that certain classes of them at least found a way, in spite of all the severities and barbarities of German rule, to profit at the expense of the invader. Belgian claims against Germany such as I have seen, amounting to a sum in excess of the total estimated pre-war wealth of the whole country, are simply irresponsible.82
It will help to guide our ideas to quote the official survey of Belgian wealth, published in 1913 by the Finance Ministry of Belgium, which was as follows:
| Land | $1,320,000,000 | tons. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buildings | 1,175,000,000 | " | ||
| Personal wealth | 2,725,000,000 | " | ||
| Cash | 85,000,000 | " | ||
| Furniture, etc. | 600,000,000 | " | ||
| $5,905,000,000 | " |
This total yields