Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-11-26
TAKING OUR PAY IN ISLANDS.

TIOW time 10 time q XOOQ zeal mas been written
with reference to the project of purchasing ffoft,
Great Britain some or all of her island possessions
in this hemisphere in liquidation of her. war indebt-
edness to this country. The movement, if it may
be called such, has made no perceptible progress,
but individuals occasionally revert to it and seek to
create some sentiment in this direction. One cir
cular on that subject from an Indiana enthusiast has
been received. This writer begins his article thus:
The American press is reporting from England
suggestions to cancel the indebtedness Of Great
britain and other European countries to the United
States"
The circular then goes OH to outline the bene-
tits which have been conferred by the United States
on the rest OF the world, and asks why the United
States should suffer still further by the cancellation
OF indebtedness owing to her.
The writer makes the mistake OF emitting q
very important item from his premises. No formal
proposal tor the remission of war indebtedness has
been made on the part Of Great Britain, although
the subject was discussed informally some time ago.
But 1T IS to be remembered that at no time was it
suggested that the United States alone should waive
its claims for the collection of its war debts. The
proposal, such as it was, was to the effect that there
should be a general cancellation of Indebtedness.
In this cancellation several of the greater nations
would torego the collection of debts due to them.
Among these nations are the United States and
Great Britain. The United States has not borrowed
on account of the war, but did loan quite heavily.
General cancellation, therefore, would mean a sac
rifice of all Gains which. we have. Great Britain
borrowed from the United States, but loaned more
heavily than she borrowed. The amount of her
war indebtedness to the United States is about 81
500, O0o,O 900, but Great Britain loaned to other coun-
tries some $4,000, DOC, 900, so that cancellation would
affect her IN the same manner that it would affect
the United States, although not to the same degree.
1t appears to be quite certain now that no plan
OF general cancellation will be decided on, so that
the subject need scarcely be discussed. As to the
purchasing of Great Britain's islands, that is almost
equally visionary. There has never been any indi-
cation that Great Britain would be willing to part
with any of her possessions in the western hemis-
phere and, failing such willingness, the subject may
as well be forgotten. 1t is. scarcely likely that the
United States intends to bring about such a pur-
chase by force or by the threat of force. The desir-
ability Of such a transfer from the standpoint of the
United States is at least open to question. The island
1nerous problems for us, and the. possession Of more
islands would increase these problems. The prob
lens would be of a different character, of course,
because the islands owned by the British are intab-
tied largely by English-speaking persons. There
would not be the different racial element that our
possession of the Spanish element brought to us,
nor the savage element which we have found in the
Philippines; but we should in this manner add very
greatly to Our already uncomfortably large color
problem by the acquisition of a large number Of
members of the black race whose education and
standards of living are entirely different from those
which prevail generally in this country. The chanc-
es are therefore that we shall do very we'll to leave
Great Britain in quiet possession of her islands and
shall expect from her the payment Of her obligations
to us IN cash as these become due. And there need
be'no doubt that this expectation will be realized in
a very satisfactory manner. ~