Germany, and of financial wantonness amongst individuals, the offspring
of uncertainty, Germany is threatened with a deluge of luxuries and
semi-luxuries from abroad, of which she has been starved for years,
which would exhaust or diminish her small supplies of foreign exchange.
These provisions strike at the authority of the German Government to
ensure economy in such consumption, or to raise taxation during a
critical period. What an example of senseless greed overreaching itself,
to introduce, after taking from Germany what liquid wealth she has and
demanding impossible payments for the future, a special and
particularized injunction that she must allow as readily as in the days
of her prosperity the import of champagne and of silk!

One other Article affects the Customs Régime of Germany which, if it was
applied, would be serious and extensive in its consequences. The Allies
have reserved the right to apply a special customs régime to the
occupied area on the bank of the Rhine, "in the event of such a measure
being necessary in their opinion in order to safeguard the economic
interests of the population of these territories."[60] This provision
was probably introduced as a possibly useful adjunct to the French
policy of somehow detaching the left bank provinces from Germany during
the years of their occupation. The project of establishing an
independent Republic under French clerical auspices, which would act as
a buffer state and realize the French ambition of driving Germany proper
beyond the Rhine, has not yet been abandoned. Some believe that much may
be accomplished by a régime of threats, bribes, and cajolery extended
over a period of fifteen years or longer.[61] If this Article is acted
upon, and the economic system of the left bank of the Rhine is
effectively severed from the rest of Germany, the effect would be
far-reaching. But the dreams of designing diplomats do not always
prosper, and we must trust the future.