The Glenwood post., 1920-04-10
uacIe Tets Bed Tine Stefies
Current Events For the children
and orown-ups, TOO
THE STORY OF TEN
BILLION DOLLARS

BILLION DOLLARS
"Uncle Ted. said Jack, heard
daddy say at dinner the other day
that the United States had loaned an
awful lot Of money to other countries
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, during 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 hap
pened SO that the United States had
more money than anyone else at the
time and we loaned the various coun-
tries different amounts of money at
different times until the total amount
has reached the enormous figure of
$40, 600, ,oOO,O ,OOo."
"Phewl" said Ruth, "that's a lot
of money"
"I should say it was lot of money,
And the worst of it is that many of
the people in Great Britain think VIC
should cancel the amount we loaned
England
"What do you mean cancel the
amount'3" asked Jack.
"By that, Jack, / mean let them
keep the money and never pay it back.
You see, these countries borrowed this
money with the understanding 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, espec-
tally in England to not only get out of
paying the interest, but to get out of
paying back any of the money at all.
"How much did we loan England?"
asked Jack
owe loaned Great Britain, $4,210,-
100000. Great Britain has loaned
other countries $s,70O,OO0,OOo. OF
course, $4,9lo,ooO,oOo of that amour.
was furnished Great Britain by the
United States, so that Great Britain
has really only loaned to other conn-
tries. $4,49O,OOO, 900. To give you an
| ;do, of bo,, ,ort, ,i, Ep rl;obnon {h;pk
| 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 s.me
way that our assistant secretaries are
connected with our treasury. He says
that because Germany will not be able
i 10 pay back much for the terrible
damage she did during the war, thas
| the United States should do the pay
ing! OF course, he means by paying,
that we should tell all the allies that
they can keeI the money We loaned
them and forget it! Besides this, he
says, in n :, and about way, that If
We don I do this these nations might
call another war in order to keep from
| paying tins money. That sort of thing
IS not only silly but dangerous and the
sad part of it is hat many Britishers
| feel tho same way.
"'It wouldn't be quite SO bad if
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 his $4,000, ,000,-
900 that Ills country should make an
other loan of about $1,00O,000,00O to
help he countries on the other side Of
the Atlantic get in position to 10
business on as big a scale as we do.
In oth"r words he would have the
Unit"'. States furnish the money fo.'
| the countries of Europe to do business
that would take business away from
this country
"Where did the $1O,00O,000, 900 come
from that we loaned to the allies!'
asked Ruth.
''I am glad you asked that question
Ruth" answered her uncle, "becruse
it .;pst shows how impossible it would
be for us to cancel these loans. The