The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-04-24
THE PUZZLE OF ECONOMISTS.

The newest puzzle for those who are
Republican policy which. in three years,
has enabled US to sell the rest of the world
1873, So, S19 more than we purchased dur
ing the three years which ended June 30.
1900. TO which must be added $I5O,0o.OO for
the fiscal year which will end with next
June. After they have accounted for all OF
this cash debt which the rest of the world
owes or has owed US, they find that a
large portion of it has not been paid, but
has been loaned abroad. Economists, as
they are called, often arrive at peculiar
conclusions, but thus far no one of them
has expressed the opinion that Americans
are giving foreigners the world over hun
dreds of millions of dollars annually. The
puzzle is. how is Europe TO liquidate the
indeterminate amount of money standing to
our credit? One OF them, who is a free
trader, suggests that the only way the vol
ume of our exports can be maintained is
to so adjust our tariff that Europe can
liquidate a much larger portion of the
favorable trade balance by selling US mer-
hANA AAN w oiO III" AAo
at home in sufficient quantities TO abund-
antly supply the home market. This means
that we must close our factories Of certain
lines of merchandise and turn their en-
ployes TO idleness and their families to
want in order to enable foreign nations TO
pay the trade balance in merchandise.
That would be economics with a vengeance.
Urhn-o Il 900, e.. IA tIot -. l. 80
present cause for fear about the inability
Of Europe TO pay us what it owes. During
nearly a hundred years the trade balance
of the world was against the United States.
1t was not a large amount each year, but
it was from $15, 900, 900 to $50, COZ, 900 annually
enough TO drain all the bullion the coun-
try produced and much of the cotton. For
years this drain upon the contribution OF
this country to the worlds stock of
precious metals made money scarce and
the rates of interest much higher than
those of Europe. For years we purchased
most OF our iron, woolens, glass. crockery,
etc, in Europe, and paid for them out of
the money. stock and materials that should
have been kept at home. Now the situa-
ton has changed Under the Republican
policy the country came TO produce in
abundance the articles we used to make an
adverse balance of trade by buying. For
years we paid high rates of interest on
this amount of our Indebtedness for goods
purchased abroad over the value of those
we sold. Then we were a debtor nation and
paid the penalty of such disadvantage,
and would be paying it now If the self
styled economists could nave their way.
Now we have become the worlds creditor
nation. If our debtors cannot pay at once
let them pay interest. as did the United
States.
We should not drive too hard a bargain
with them. Therefore, let them compete
among themselves for our ocean-carrying
trade and let us not go to paying bounties
to encourage a shipping industry which can
never go alone. Let US go out of the arti-
fetal sugar culture and turn it over to
Cuba and other nations rather than tax
ourselves 2 cents a pound to keep alive an
artificial sugar industry that can never
raise half the sweets that the American
people consume.