The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-07-17

| spedk or the suggestion that the United
 states government by a stroke of the pen Hquidate this debt, said that the
 only argument in favor of such action
 was this:-the United States did not | enter the war until it had been in prog ress nearly three years. Therefore this country was not compelled to endure the hardships, maintain the heavy cost and suffer the loss of so many lives | as did Great Britain France and to
 some extent Italy. But the United l States has gained all the advantages which follow the victory and therefore l to even up the conditions we might i with propriety recognize the ten bil-
 lions which Great Britain and Europe owe to us as a reasonable part of the cost of the war which the United States should bear.
 TT WILL NOT BE DONE
 l Notwithstanding this plausible argu-
 ment 1t is inconceivable that Congress
 would authorize the liquidation of this
 debt of ten billions. The secretary of | the Treasury MT. Glass, who is the of- i ficial custodian of the notes which in 1 the aggregate represent ten billions | evidently does not consider that there is | the slightest chance that the debt will
 be liquidated without payment through the authorization of congress. For Sec 1 retary Glass in his recent statement deducts the ten billions which Great Britain and Europe now owe us and
 in that way brings our aggregate war debt down to eighteen billions.
 But there are other reasons why Mr.
 Vanderlip's suggestion as well as that
 of MT. Wikersham will not be seriously
 considered First of all men of finance
 say that to liquidate this debt, doing
 so as though it were charged off to the
 profit and loss account of the Federal government, would cause serious diff
 culties in the securities market, possibly
 In the money market to arise. Fur
 thermore as this debt is based upon the good faith the resources and the ability
 to pay ultimately, which were the
 chief guarantees that stand behind the
 notes held in the federal treasury, it would be regarded in some sense as a humiliation, loss of dignity and of national self respect, in fact some con- | fesSion of very dangerous financial
 weakness if proposition of this kind
 were made by the United States and 1 accepted by Great Britain and the Eu- | ropean nations.
 ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW
 In addition however to this reasoning
 there is another point of view which
 is taken by some of those who have | recently returned from Europe. It is
 this; although the United States did not
 enter the war until April 1917 never theless this country was relied upon ! by the European nations to furnish not only financial assistance but also com
 modities that were of vital need in large
 amounts and is still relied upon to | furnish financial assistance, the aggre- 1 gate of which may be as much as ten | billion dollars. Therefore we are now about to do our part in the evening up our relations to the great war so | that we will stand precisely as Great
 Britain, France and Italy stand respect ing the contributions which will have | been made by all these nations and
 which represents the cost of the war WHAT EUROPE WILL NEED The prevailing opinion in financial circles and with the industrial leaders
 now seem to be that from the 1st of July, 1919 to the 1st of July of the suc- ceeding year the financial needs of Flu rope including Great Britain will be
 not far from two billion dollars. This figure is approximately equal to the estimate made recently by the secre-
 tary of the treasury MT. Glass, and is somewhat smaller than the estimate
 made by Henry F. Davison and consd- erably smaller than the estimate made by Frank A. Vanderlip. Undoubtedly
 much the greater part of these two billion dollars will be furnished by the United States. But there are reasons for believing that Japan, some of the South American countries and possibly Australia will furnish credits which will serve so far as they go to meet | the European needs.
 THE RETURN OF LAMONT ] In all probability if Thomas W. La 1 mont felt Justified in speaking for way then there would be furnished the
 best estimate not only of the needs of Europe but of the means by which these requirements can be met
 | MT. Lamont returned from Eureope | as passenger upon the George Wash 1 ington and presumably had while crossing the ocean several conferences with President Wilson. He went to 1 Washington by the first train he was able to take after the George Wash I ington reached New York Presumably he went there to make his final report to the President Having done this he
 returned to New York and was found by
 his friends upon the following morn ing to be at his accustomed desk in the office of J. P. Morgan and company in
 which house he is a partner.
 It Is known to MT. Lamont's friends
 that whatever he may think of the l league of nations covenant he is confi- | dent that 1t is not only expedient but of the highest necessity that the treaty l of peace be ratified. In that treaty can be discovered by and by perhaps .--S ~>A~oSA AAAsSA <AS, O% MT. 1<c1HloHt or there begins to be understandings here of the fact that some of the most i'm portant clauses in that treaty, especially those relating to indemnity reparation and kindred matters. represent the work of MT. Lamont did. He detected sophistries and impracticable propo- sftions and pointed them out He work ed out some of the problems created by the question of indemnity and repara- tion The great leaders over there