Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1917-04-06
Give $1,000, 100000 to Franeei
(New York World.)


What would George Washington say
if no could read the terms of the new
French loan that has been negotiated
in Wall streets What would Thomas
jefferson say9 What would Benjamin
Franklin say9
In order to obtain 500, 100000 France,
in the hour of her extremity, is com
PEELED to pay more than 9 per cent in
terest, and to deposit $120,000,000 in
stocks and bonds as collateral. In adj
dition, the holders of the notes have
the option of collecting their debts in
francs at the rate of $40 francs to the
dollar, "this being about 10 per cent
below mint parity according to the
that much additional load upon the
French people.
In the darkest days of the American
Revolution, when the colonies had
neither security nor credit, France
loaned money to the United States at
per cent, and then cancelled the in
terest for the whole period of the war
as ga new proof of affection and
friendship Yet we are imposing
pawnbroker terms upon the French
and squeezing the last possible penny
from sister republic that must have
money or perish.
When Congress convenes and for
mally recognizes the existence nf a
state of war between the United
4 States and Germany, the first mill AIRY
measure of this government should be
to make provision for the financial as
,sistancc of France. This is impera-
tive. We owe it not only to the cause
o. al Oh H., ant fn
all the traditions of the Nation.
The United States ought to give
France $1,OOO,000,000 without day 8
unnecessary delay-not as a loan but
as a gift--as ga new proof of affec-
ton and Friendships We can we'll af.
ford to do it, and it would be the most
effective war measure that could be
adopted. A gift of $1,000, 100000 to
France would exactly equal the indcm-
nifty imposed by Prussia upon the
French people in 1871, and the know
ledge of such gift would exert a
greater moral influence in Germany
than any army we could recruit or any
other policy of resistance to German
ruthlessness that we could adopt.
We cannot be effective in this war
except as we aid the allies and the
way to aid the allies is first to put
our vast financial and economic re-
sources at their disposal. That would
be the hardest blow that we could
strike against German autocracy, and
the most telling blow.
Giving $l,000,000,000 to France
means giving 100000 600 in Ameri-
can food, American munitions and
American supplies for the French arm
les that are battling III the trenches to
drive out the invader. Having given
it. our next duty will be to employ
/ all the power of the navy to keep the
sea lanes open and deliver the food,
munitions and supplies to the French
people, regardless of submarines and
frightfulness.
Every schoolboy knows WAT France
meant to the United Stat When the
Fate of democracy q trent IT,. in. the
balance. We have no moral right to
mean less to, France III 1917 than
france meant to our D,fdrefatficrs in
l77S. We arc. thG richest country in
the world. We. have everything that
the French require, and we cannot
give it too quickly or too lavishly. A
billion American dollars are worth more
, to France today than a million Amer
lean troops, The dollars and what
they will buy can be modified at once
They will carry new heart and cour-
age to the French people and relieve
the French government of the gigantic
financial burden under which it is
struggling.
, Our debt to France is not merely a
debt of sentiment. 1t is material
debt as well. The French government
expended hundreds of millions of dol
lars in helping the American people win
their independence, and while the eX-
act sum is still in doubt, not cent of
it was ever repaid. 1t should be repaid
now, and we should repay it not
meanly and grudgingly but generously
and proudly and gratefully.
We should regard the gift of ST.
000,O00,000 to France not as an obi,
cation but as q privilege Upon it
would rest the bcnediction of the
Fathers.