The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1915-08-06
When Conflict Ends America
Must Help Pay Bill
Says BObson
j. S. CANNOT ESCAPE
Must Share in Financial
Losses Of Brothers Across
the Sea.
BY ROGER w. RARsoN.


and economist on the finances OF
the war;
The average man is going about to.
day sticking out his chest and con.
graduating himself that he is a United
States citizen. Perhaps you are one
OF these men. thinking that we are
lucky dogs over here raking In the
money, while our poor brothers in
Europe are being killed, MANNED or
ruined.
There Is no doubt that we are in.
finitely better off than the poor fei.
lows on the other side; but when the
war is over We must help pay the
bills. -....-..
Although a short. sharp period o.
prosperity will directly follow the ces.
sation of hostiIities, yet in the generai
depression that will later come over
the entire world, we cannot escape
suffering.
The different countries Of the world
may be likened to different tanks OF
water. When commerce is freely
flowing from one country to another,
these tanks are the same as II all
were connected at their bottoms with
pipes. In such a case, although the
tanks are entirely different in size
one tank holding many times more
water than another, yet water stands
at the same level in all the tanks.
or course, today this Is not the case
because the pipes connecting certain
tanks have been blocked up. thus tenn.
porarily permitting the water in these
different tanks TO stand at different
levels Thus at the present time. the
level in our tank is away above the
level in some of the European tanks.
When the war is over, however, these
pipes will all be clear again, and i'm.
mediately the water will come to the
same level in all the tanks. What
does this mean? 1t means that the
level in the German, French and 9th.
er tanks, which Is now so low, will
rise, and the level in our tank will
lower.
When using the tanks as illustrat.
ing the different countries, what do
the pipes represent. Why, these pipes
represent the steamship lines for
transporting goods and the foreign ex-
change system for transferring money.
Now, what Of foreign exchange?"
When one country is buying as
much of another country as It Is SELL
ing, it is very simple matter for
the people OF either country to pay
their bills to the other. If you should
buy $1,000 worth of English woolens
you would never send the $1,000 to
England, but would go to a foreign
exchange broker in Chicago and pay
that $1,000 over to some Illinois farm
err who has just sold $1,000 worth Of
wheat to England. Thus our farmer
gets his money and you pay your bill,
while another foreign exchange brok-
er in Liverpool makes the same ad-
iustment over there, between the -four
manufacturer who Is buying the wheat
and the wooden manufacturer who Is
selling you the cloth.
When the exports and imports Of a
country are about the same foreign
exchange Is said to be normal, which
simply means that it is just as easy
for the Englishman to pay his in
debtedness to us as for us to pay our
indebtedness to him. OF course, II
there Is a small balance which one
country owes the other, this can be
adjusted by shipment Of gold; but
no big difference can be adjusted by
a shipment OF gold. for each country
has only small amount Of gold that
it can spare. This means that II the