The Alaska citizen., 1915-11-08


 These distinguished solicitors have submitted to most persistent and searching interrogation. and have in ~-~i faith produced the collatef al security required of them. Did they obtain the loan9 Yes, they lid, But the scenes are still shift ing with marvellous and ominous rapidity. so ominous. in fact, that figuratively speaking, We lean fCT ward in our seats to witness an un looked for, and startling denoun ment. Almost before the ink iS Try upon their bond, even beforf ese honorable gentlemen have cached the shores of their own coun, try to announce the success of their mission. the Prime Minister If the British Empire comes before he House of Commons to frankly admit how serious, perhaps daE .erous the plight of that Empire :S from every point of view, and |, .sk for another vote of credit for quarter of a billion pounds (s1,25O oOO O00) At the same time French financiers. careful students of the situation. predict that Great Britain and France will in the near future be compelled to request of Amer can bankers an additional loan oi 1t least two billion dollars ts2.009 'oO.OOO).
 Now the outlook Is simply ap palling, not only for the nations 1volved. but for all the world. Stat
 stiCians computed In September the
 ost of the var to be S90.000,O00 ner day This Is daily expendi-
 ure nearly three times as great as was estimated in tho first months
 f the tumult, so we see the vast lge of this unspeakable conflict going on with frlehtful acceleration.
 To a citizen of the United States here seems to be three pertinent
 uestions relative to the situation, tC which conclusive answer would be gratifying indeed If Ameri can bankers are called upon to do so (and there seems to be no doubt they will be so called upon),
 CD Arc they able to extend this additional loan?
 @ Will they extend 1t?
 (3) Or is it their duty to refuse ito
 The last two questions are diff cult, indeed, to settle conclusively and the opinion of the American people is perhaps fairly equally di- Jided upon them. But the first question can be solved with a mod arate degree of accuracy-Yes, they are quite able to absorb this here tofore unheard of loan; they could even handle d loan of ten billion dollars and barely ripple the ocean of our resources. This conclusion T. the wealth of our nation is the re- fleX, or sum of the wealth of the people, and great part of such wealth is always at the disposal of bankers"
 Let us offer some figures in sup port of this statement that may be Illuminating to readers of this report. According to the estimate If Sir Geo. Palsh, the wealth of Great Britain in 1914 was eighty five billion dollars (sS5 5,OO0, ,OOO ,OO0) At about the same time Dr. Karl Helfferich, the present head of the Imperial German Treasury, estimated the total wealth of Germany at seventy-five billion dollars (s75.- 900 900, ,00O).
 Fifteen years ago Gin 1900) the United States Census Bureau placed the total wealth of the United States at eighty-five billion five hundred million dollars (s85,5OO.- 200, 0,00O). In 1904 the same authori- ty gave Us one hundred seven bill lion one hundred million dollars (s107, 00,O00,000), but now appear figures of such magnitude as to be actually staggering. From 1904 to 1912 the increase in our national wealth was about eighty-one bill lion dollars (sS1,O0O, ,OOO,OOO), or, to be more explicit, the entire wealth of our country was one hundred eighty-seven billion seven hundred thirty nine million dollars ($187,739,- O0O.OOO) in 1912. Here We have the amazing fact that the increase alone in our wealth in eight brief years was more than the entire wealth of the German Empire, and practically Britain. These figures seem in credible. it is true, but they are taken from the highest authority obtainable in our country, and are as near correct as human wisdom and careful computation can make them. So it would seem conclusive that our banking institutions can. if need be, extend a credit to the allies, in money and merchandise to, let us say, even twenty billion dollars, without disturbing the equi-