We publish this book knowing that every effort has been made to have the statements and figures contained in it accurate. The principal sources of information are listed at the back of the book. All of the statistical data used in the preparation of the tables has been obtained from official sources. The book was submitted in proof form, in whole or in part, to many distinguished financial and economic authorities in France, who gave the proofs critical reading, checked some of the tables, and contributed valuable assistance. This has enabled us to make in this volume the first complete comparative statement to be published of the public finance statistics of France for each of the years which have elapsed since the beginning of the war in 1914. Desiring to relieve these authorities from any implicaion of responsibility that the specific mention of their names might entail, we content ourselves with expressing generally our thanks for their help, corrections and suggestions.

We will feel that we were justified in asking for the critical assistance which these distinguished French authorities have given so carefully, and that our purpose in publishing this book had been achieved, should it contribute to a more sympathetic understanding in this country of the financial problems that France had to solve during the war, and of the integrity, courage and resourcefulness with which she is meeting her problems of today.

BANKERS TRUST COMPANY New York and Paris

July,1922 . . .