By Article 258 Germany renounces her right to any participation in any
financial or economic organizations of an international character
"operating in any of the Allied or Associated States, or in Austria,
Hungary, Bulgaria or Turkey, or in the dependencies of these States, or
in the former Russian Empire."

Generally speaking, only those pre-war treaties and conventions are
revived which it suits the Allied Governments to revive, and those in
Germany's favor may be allowed to lapse.[35]

It is evident, however, that none of these provisions are of any real
importance, as compared with those described previously. They represent
the logical completion of Germany's outlawry and economic subjection to
the convenience of the Allies; but they do not add substantially to her
effective disabilities.


II

The provisions relating to coal and iron are more important in respect
of their ultimate consequences on Germany's internal industrial economy
than for the money value immediately involved. The German Empire has
been built more truly on coal and iron than on blood and iron. The
skilled exploitation of the great coalfields of the Ruhr, Upper Silesia,
and the Saar, alone made possible the development of the steel,
chemical, and electrical industries which established her as the first
industrial nation of continental Europe. One-third of Germany's
population lives in towns of more than 20,000 inhabitants, an industrial
concentration which is only possible on a foundation of coal and iron.