Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1920-04-01
EUROPE NOT ANXIOUS
TO REPAY MONEY
FEELING PREVAILS IN ENGLAND
THAT THEY SHOULD NOT RE-
PAY UNITED STATES LOANS

al lOl VI ihOhCy W olhOA Soub-
tries during the war and that we
might not get some of it back"
well, Jack" replied Uncle Ted,
your father was certainly right
when he said that the United
States had loaned other countries
lot of money. You see kiddies, dur
ing the war it was necessary for the
allies who were fighting Germany to
have large sums of money with
which to buy war materials, food
and supplies. 1t happened so that
the United States had more money
than anyone else at that time and We
loaned the various countries differ
ent amounts of money at different
times until the total amount has
reached the enormous figure of $1O,-
000, 900, 900"
"Phew!" said Ruth, that's lot
of money"
II should say it was lot OF mon
ey. And the worst part of 1t is
that many of the people in Great
Britain think we should cancel the
amount we loaned England"
What do you mean cancel the
amount'?" asked Jack.
by that, Jack, I mean let them
keep the money and never pay 1t
back. You see, these countries bor-
rowed this money with the under
standing that they were not only to
pay it back but that they must pay
interest, that is pay certain amount
for the right to use the money. Now
there seems to be movement on
foot in Europe especially in England
to not only get out of paying the in
terest but to get out of paying back
any of the money at ALL"
"How much did we loan Eng
land?" asked Jack.
1--WE loaned Great Britain $4,210,-
100000. Great Britain has loaned
other countries $500, 100000. of
course, s4,210, 100000 of that
amount was furnished Great Britain
by the United States, so that Great
Britain has really only loaned to
other countries $4,490,000 900.
To give you an idea of how certain
Englishnen think about this matter,
will tell you about a man by the
name of Maynard Keynes, who is
connected with the British treasury
in somewhat the same way that our
assistant secretaries are connected
with our treasury. He says that
because Germany will not be able
to pay back much for the terrible
damage she did during the war, that
the United States should do the pay
ing! OF course, he means by pay
ing, that we should tell all the allies
that they can keep the money we
loaned them and forget 1t! Besides
this, he says, in a round about way,
that il we don't do this these nations
might call another war In order to
keep from paying this money. That
sort of thing Is not only silly but
dangerous and the sad part of 1t is
that many Britishers feel the same
way.
cit wouldn't be quite so bad II
Mr.. Keynes stopped at saying this
much but he goes on and suggests
that after the United States has told
the allies that they can keep this
$4,000, 100000 that this country
should make another loan of about
$1,000, 000, 900 to help the countries
on the other side of the Atlantic get
in position to do business on as
big scale as we do. In other words
he would have the United States fur
nish the money for the countries OF
Europe to do business that would
take business from this country"
where did the 81 100000, 100000
come from that we loaned to the al
lies asked Ruth.
81 am glad you asked that ques-
tion Ruth" answered her uncle, be
cause II just shows how impossible 1t
would be for us to cancel those
loans. The S10,O00,000,000 has
not yet been paid and when II finally
is 1t will be paid by you and me and
all the people of the United States
who bought bonds"
What would happen II we cancel
this debt" asked Jack.
"The first thing that would hap
pen would be the forming of some
plan to raise 10000, 600, 900 in this
country. II might mean another
issue of bonds, like Liberty and Vic
tory bonds or il might mean more
taxes on things we eat and wear and
use every day of our lives, or both.
In other words. Riddles, the matter
is very simple. We loaned this
money to the allies to help them win
the war. They knew that they
were to pay interest and in time pay
it all back The United States
would expect to do the same. Not
counting these loans, the war cost
the United States about $4,000
000,00 and IL we cancel the S10.-
900. 900 goo loan, then the war cost
us those two amounts added together
which make 35,000,000,000. 1t
really would mean more than $685.
600, 900, 900 for we would have been
without that money for many, many
months and would have lost the in
terest besides. Here Is another
important thing for you to remem-
Der. The senate has again killed
the peace treaty with the world club
plan and II is now up to President
Wilson as to what will be done.
The greatest danger of our joining
the world club has passed but there
Is still a chance that the idea, at
least, will have to be fought. II.
with England having six votes to our
one In the world club, she should de-
eide that she would not pay back
this money, we would have little to
say. That shows you again what a
dangerous plan II is"
Hasn't England lot more land
than she had before the war;" ask
ed Jack.
Eyes, indeed" answered Uncle
Ted. 1T has been said that Great
Britain has gained nearly 100000
square miles OF land by the war, The
largest part OF this is in what is
Africa. Probably the richest land,
that is land with great mines, ETC..
is located in German Southwest and
German East Africa. This land
which was given to Great Britain as
part Of her share in the victory over
the Germans, formerly belonged to
Germany. All OF these land gains
mean that Great Britain has more
Land To nina more Land unnn which