The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-10-18
ARE WE A NATION OF CUTTERS?


thelcss the older sisters in the
family arc having their troubles
The burden on Great Britain is
such that TO work and to save is the
burden of all her statesmens
must save If she is to pull herself
out She is deeply involved and
spending and striking only fasten
deeper in the miro.
We over here have all that the
nations lack, credit on vast scale,
sufficient TO bring the worlds SAL
walton il we had the minds to u.s.
It, sufficient to furnish materials
and machinery to the empty mills
Of the world. sufficient to equip the
ROADS and the railroads with all they
need, sufficient to supply the farms
with animals and machinery. suti
cient to set the world at work with
adequate tools and supplies All
these things We have all these
things we want to furnish, How
shall they be supplied to those who
can not pay only by furnishing
them the means with which to pay.
We have the goods to sell they
have the need to buy; we have tho
means of paying ourselves for the
goods, they have not the means OF
raging us for the goods We must
furnish both the goods and the
means OF paying. Every business
man knows that we can not under
take this task until we have peace
This is not p@rtisanship or
politics. it is just sense A large
part Of the world is weltering in
want and misary. subject TO all the
gusts OF mental passion which lead
TO BolsheVism, freed from the
Hun, trembling toward red radical
ism.
Meanwhile, great free Democratic
America, about which We sing thar
she Is the land Of the free and
the home of the brave" talks and
talks some more while the world
waits and our job is not done. nay
1t is not begun, for II is useless to
cry Peace, Peace" when there is
no peace. and ono can not mako
plans for granting credit to state
or nation or to a corporate enter
prise therein when there is no Ger
talnly that,the state or nation will
continue to exist, when its life is
without guarantee and il is sur
looking for the hour when they can
take il back anew TO themselves
In this condition today liz
Czecho- Sjovakia, the Kingdom Of
the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. the
enlarged Greece, Poland, and such
other states as Finland and the
new Armenia, not 10 omit the
newly born Kingdom of Ara bia.
Nevertheless let us hope that
there Will come a time when we
shah be at peace and perhaps at a
time not far distant How then
shall We meet the situation arising
from world eager TO buy 'but un-
able 10 pay
How shall We carry out the sug-
ges-ion that We must ourselves both
furnish the goods and the means Of
paying for them? Let me suggest
tor your thought an idea based upon
recent legislation and ask you 10
consider.
W. must have means of credit
adequate to the demands upon us
That means a credit providing or
4anization beyond anything we have
ever known, TOO big for the banks
too big for the manufacturers, too
big for the merchants and farm
ers, and only TO be made
big enough by combining the sup
port In the form of an effective
organization Of all these forces.
We need to bring TO bear upon
this problem the credit giving power
of America in very much the way
that we brought TO bear upon the
war loans and investing power of
America. You remember that we
did not know what that power was.
we had no idea it was so large as il
proved to be, We developed IL by
country wide organization We
must do the same with foreign
credits.
Let Us suppose, then, a great Or
eanization with 500 millions Of capt.
tai or perhaps a billion: the latter
sum would be none TOO large Into
it as holders or in one or another
way as interested hackers are com
hined all the commercial groups I
have mentioned. 1t must be in
elusive OF the whole round Of Ameri-
can commercial interest It must
not present a part but focus the
energies of the whole
That great organization could
then take the securities, in varied
forms and amounts, of nations.
province cities. utilities, industries,
railways and Of other forIns OF cor.
poratiate activity. 1t could so
distribute its undertakings geo
graphically, politically. economi
callS as to average the risk.
AGAINST these securities, kept under
constant supervision and against its
own great capital, it should issue its
own debentures at a commercial
rate of interest and in small
amounts and large so that the big
and the little investor might pur-
chase them
There ii would be necessary 10
place all over the United States. for
4 great sum would be needed
probably 2. perhaps 3, billions
.ossibly more, depending on how
we'll we did the job. These in their
turn would be invested in our en-
terprises and so the good work
would 20 on. do not know
though / hope, that we have the
power to get together in one o,
more organizations on a sufficient
scale.
Without it we shall be in sorr,
case, We can do a rental foreign
trade, OF course, amounting to s
larger total but nothing at all ade
quate either to our own need for
business of to the worlds need fol
progress
We can worry along in rela