The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1919-07-18

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raw material, pass it through her
factories, sell the product abroad, and
have margin enough to get more raw
material and the food she needs, and
she is facing the demoralized markets
IL Europe. | believe that these mar
kets must be rebuilt. l believe that
is the real peace treaty now. There
cannot be peace when there are idle
people, lack of production, want and
starvation; and these are things that
are current in Europe.
England's Paper Money and Heavy
War Costs
/ have told you little of English
industry. Let me tell you just word
of English finance. The outstanding
fact in England is that she is off the
gold basis. Very great consequences
flow from that You know that the
day after war was declared, she be-
gan to print paper money. The Bank
of England had rigidity that per-
mitted of no expansion. Gold dis
appeared from circulation over night.
There was urgent need for more cur
rency, and the Government started it's
printing press. 1t has added to the
total of its fiat issue every week dur
ing the war, l think, and is still add
ing. That issue is secured by depos-
it of little gold, perhaps twenty
eight and half million pounds of
gold under it. That amount has re-
manned stationary, and there are gov
eminent securities also back of this
currency issue. But, of course, that
is "pig on pork" as we say that is,
merely securing the Governments OBJ
| legation, with the governments OBJ
legation, and in the present situation
practically any Bank of England note
is not redeemable. Normally they
are redeemable in gold. But neither
the Bank of England nor the Govern
ment has the gold to redeem any great
quantity; and if anybody wanted to
ask for a redemption they would be
closely questioned as to the use they
wanted to make of the gold. The diff
ficulty Of making any use of gold in a
country which puts an embargo on its
export is such that the redemption
quality has now disappeared. -
The English fiscal year begins with
the first of April. From the first of
April to the armistice, England's war
cost was 7 1-2 million pounds day,
roundly. 1t was little under that.
In the months since the armistice her
war cost has been IL million pounds
day. Why, the cost of this war af-
ter the armistice is going to amaze the
world!
France on the Verge of Exhaustion
Now let me turn to France for
moment. France is bled white. That
is a trite statement, but it is state
ment that comes to you with crushing
force when you really see France;
when you see today women in the
railway yards, women on the street
cars, women at many things that men
should be doing. When you see men
we'll along in the forties still in uni
form, you begin to appreciate what has
happened in the way of loss of man
power. Of course, in Northern
France you do not expect to find any
thing but devastation and idleness.
But there is idleness all over France
just as you find it in England, just as
you find in Belgium, just as you find
in Italy.
French Finances
In France, the paper money is the
issue of the Bank of France-a bank
that has been wonderfully well man.
aged, that has gone through all the
wars that have been fought since its
organization, without any question of
insolvency. But the amount of cur
tLn of
France reaches an appalling figure.
The total at the outbreak of the war
was between five and six billions of
francs. A total of thirty-six billions
had been reached when | was in
Paris, and the Chamber of Deputies
had asked to increase the legal limit
to forty. Now thirty-six billions of
francs is vast amount. We have
grown used to handling this word
"billion," perhaps, without understand
ing it. | think, perhaps, the French
mind is less capable of understanding
these great figures than the minds of
some other peoples. The Frenchman
is wonderful at detail. He is, nation
ally speaking, a man of small bust
ness, and | rather conceive that num-
erals in nine ciphers get beyond his
range.
When | first went to Paris, in the
middle of February, there was sit
uation that seemed to me to raise at
once question of the solvency of the
French Government. 1t is facing a
budget of twenty-five billion francs
this year. France had debt, prior
to the war, that was larger than that
of most countries. 1t was about $l60
per capita. Her funded debt today by
no means measures her position. The
Government owes the Bank of France
twenty-five billion francs of short
term unfounded paper. They are
pledged to tremendous payments to
the families of the injured, payments
of reparation to the people who have
had their homes or business destroy
ed. 1t was estimated to me by, be-
lieve, competent persons, that when
the Government of France has dis
charged her obligations to her own
people, she will have total obligation
of three hundred billion francs.
Italy's Tragic Situation
Here is Italy with its great army
not disbanded, and she cannot disband
it without disbanding it into idleness,