The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-03-03
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
Copyright by The Reformer.

- y
WASHINGTON, March William
Gibbs McAdoo, secretary Of the treasury,
is in town for little while presumably
to nurse along his political boom. Hay
ing dealt with matters of taxation, it is
natural that he should be found discus
sing ways Of reducing taxes And the
most novel suggestion he makes is that
the United States shall buy several Brit
ish colonies, such as the Bermudas, ia
uaica, British Honduras, Barbados. the
Bahamas. Nassau and other islands off the
Atlantic coast of this continent In pay
ment, Mr.. McAdoo declares the United
States should give Great Britain credit
on her war debt to us This, he believes,
viii help Great Britain ana ourselves be-
cause it viii tend to stabilize foreign ex-
change and mean an earlier settlement
OF the European debt.
It's hard TO estimate what the price Of
the islands is ON the market of intcrna-
tional barter but not long ago the Unit
cd States purchased the Danish West In
dies for $25,000.000. OF course the Brit
18Th possessions are much more valuable
than that. The price might be calculated
on the basis of exports and imports and
some of the British possessions are
worth a good dead. Jamaica, for instance,
has plenty Of sugar though its rum isn't
particularly useful at this time. On the
whole the United States could find bill
/ lion dollars worth Of value in some Of
these islands without much trouble and
pet it back in commodities in a short
time
But were it for the principle cnun-
ciated by the distinguished father-in law
/ Of Mr. McAdoo. namely, the principle OF
self determination. it would be easy ia
get the proposition going for it is said
that British sentiment is not bit ad-
verse to discussion Of the matter What
/ for instance, would be the opinion OF
4 peoples in the Bermudas, Bahamas. an
so on, about being annexed to Dry Land
Seriously speaking. there has been an an.
ncNation movement in some of thest
/ British islands for some time. They
, have wanted to be annexed TO the Unit
ed States for various reasons. mostly
commercial advantages growing out Of
/ geographical proximity But the advan
tages OF prohibition have not yet take1
hold Of the British Imagination. Perliap,
the islands could be gotten ready for an
neNatlon only after some of the anti
/ Ndiopll NdGlt = agents udu Depn able e
4 sow the seed which was so effective in
side the United States
Mr.. McAdoo, however, sees the cues
4 ton purely as to its bearing on financial
relations between the British empire anl
! the ! nited States. Says Mr.. McAdoo:
1 1T is highly desirable. both on olu
\ own account and that Of our allies. that
/ the settlement OF our loans to our allie
be rendered as quickly and as easily a.
! possible. Our chief debtor is, of course
Great Britain. and this arises NATURAL,
out OF the fact that Great Britain bs.
literally pledged her credit to sustain
that Of her allies. Now for the past 10,
years Great Britain has held certain i
lands in and near our shores. Jamaica
the Bahamas, Barbados Nassau. Briti.I
Honduras, and the Bermuda-. off ON
South Atlantic coast. These British nos
sessions, 50 long held bv a friendly mari
time power. do not ieopardize the seem.
lly OF the Atlantic and Gulf coast of IN
! nIted States. With the process of tim,
we nave now become the leading economi
power III the world and have deyelope,
the Panama Canal and a navy and NOR
chant marine which make these island
more than ever important to us. Mich
II not be possible to work out a nIap h,