Evening journal., 1921-03-10
Uncle Harry Talks
About Suggestion To
Cancel the War Debt

what will come Of the suggestion I
am frank to say 1 do not know
But If the Allied nations agreed
to such a plan they would an profit
more than the United States,
wouldn't they?" asked Joe
THAT is another equally interest
ing and difficult question to answer"
replied Uncle Harry. TT is trues
that while several of the European
countries owe large sums of money
to the United States, our country, aS
a nation, does not owe anything TO
any of the Europeon countries. At
the same time, our government does.
owe many billions of dollars TO the
people of the United States. Our
government borrowed from the peo-s
pie of our country the money that
it loaned to the Allied nations.
Therefore this question arises: Sup.
pose our government we're to say
to the European nations, You
owe us ten billion dollars, but you.
are very poor as a result Of the war,
so we will cancel that debt
Uncle Sans Debt TO His Own People,
THAT would be all right so far as
the European nations were con-
cerned. but what would our govern
ment say to this country from whom
il borrowed that ten billion dollars?
II the people OF our country who
loaned their money to tho govern
ment during the war through buy.
ing Liberty bonds were willing to
cancel their bonds-in other words,
give their money to the governments
at interest, then the problem would
be quickly and easily solved There.
isn't however, any reason to believe
that the owners of Liberty Bonds
are willing or can afford to do that.
Now then. suppose our govern
ment were to cancel the ten billion
dollar war debts owed by the AL.
lied nations to the United States and
were to assume to pay that money
and all the interest due on it, back
/ to the people Of the United States.
Where would our government get
| the money? There are only two
ways in which a government can
raise funds and that is through taxes
on the people and through tariff
collected on goods imported TO the
| United States, and a tariff is really
another form OF tax. There is al-
ready great deal Of complaint be-
ing heard in all parts Of our coun-
try against taxes which we already
have to pay. Almost every day 1
read something in the paper about
somebody starting plan to do away
with some of the present taxes"
How Can the United States Best
Help?
There doesn't seem to be any end
to this problem" said Helen
That is the very point about war
debts" said Uncle Harry. Fighting
and winning a war is one thing, but
finding a plan Of solving the finan-'
cial problems that grow out of
great war is another and equally.
difhcult proposition. There is no
question, of course, but that the
United States, in every way, suf-
fered less than any Of the other
leading Allied nations. Our country
is, therefore, better able to stand M.
under the financial burden Of the
war than any Of the other countries.
The United States should help all
the countries, and particularly
France, to the very best of its abil-
ity. The problem is, therefore. how
can our nation be of greatest as
sistance to France and the other
countries without creating compli.
cations that will cause even more
serious difficulties.
This question Of war debts is one
that will command a great deal OF
: attention in Congress and we will
have to watch the news carefully to
see what progress is made"
Editors Note-Uncle Harry win be
glad to answer inquiries, addressed
to him Care of the Editor: either
4I.s~ l.rrr a Qa
letters are signed with the full name
and address Of the persons writing.
-, The corresponding names will not
appear in the articles.
81 Copyright, 1921. by The NC
Crrndfrafa