The Washington herald., 1921-08-24
That Ten Billion Foreign
Debt.

Az huS 1ue WAbulukto1
Shall we require our debtor ma
tions to pay US the $4,000. 900 900
OF war debts. or shall we cancel
these debts?
II We remit them, shall we do SO
only upon the basis that our debtor
nations remit dollar for dollar war
debts owed to them by other ma
tions7
Since the Senate has been asked
to give Secretary of the Treasury
Mellon a free hand to ''dicker" for
n settlement, how or in what man
ner shall that settlement be ef-
fected?
Many OF our writer's and thinkers
believe that our debtors should pay
us. and President Harding has said
that the debts will not be can
celed.
On the other hand there are many
others who believe that We should
remit them. with considerable
force they argue that to demand
and receive payment means not
only the stagnation of our export
business for decades TO come. with
its consequent result OF loss to our
manufacturers and to producers of
raw materials and in unemploy-
ment, but another increase in living
costs caused by the foods of gold
that we would receive and its re-
sultant imitation.
1t is argued by VI. n. VI. Robert
son, an Alabama financier and bust
ness man, that as an act not only
of simple justice. but of healthy
world conditions. we can use the
SIC. .00o, 900. 900 war debt due US from
Europe to wipe out the war debts
due from nation to nation in Europe
and thus hasten the day Of recon-
struction by twenty-five years"
The nations of Europe need our
raw materials, our farm products
and many of our manufactured
products. But they cannot buy our
goods beyond the extent of dire ne
interest charges. We in turn need
many of the commodities that they
manufacture, and would buy from
them for more than what we are
now buying If business conditions
were normal.
Why should we not answer the
above questions and at the same
time speedily set the worlds wheels
of industry going. open the Euro
pean markets to our manufacturers
and to our farmers, and thus pro-
vide employment for our workers
by saying to our debtor nations
that, subject to the conditions
stated below, for every dollar:
worth of our products you buy
from us. we will remit 81 of your
war debts to us; tho conditions tC
be as follows:
(a) That each respective nations
payments for our products per
year shall be, for the first year. not
less than Z per cent of their total
war Indebtedness to US with an in
crease of ! per cent each year
thereafter until the debt is paid
the first and each succeeding year
to be counted from the date this
agreement is consummated.
tb) Each If the respective debtor
nations to remit of their debtor ma
tions' war debts an amount equal to
the remittance received by them
from us: this remittance to be
made within sixty days from date
Of yearly adjustment with US, and
to be credited to 'he respective ma
tions in the proportion that their
respective war Indebtedness bears
to the total sum that is to be
credited to such debtor nations.
r(c) That for any year the total
payments for our products falls be-
low the percentages provided In
paragraph (a), the remittance for
that year Is to be forfeited.
(d) That for any year any one of
the respective nations, debtors to
US. fails to make adjustment with
each and every one OF its respective
debtor nations within the sixty
days provided in paragraph (b) and
thirty days OF grace thereafter, that
debtor nations remittance from US
shall be forfeited for that year.
The writer ventures the thought
that none of the nations could af-
ford not to agree with this sugges-
ton Tor the reason that an accept
ance means that they thus will have
provided a way without direct hnan-
cial expenditure to discharge their
obligations to us and to each other,
and with the exceptions of Germany
and Austria, the great major por-
tion of the worlds war debts will
thus be paid. The crushing burden
Of war debts and the interest
charges thereon, thereby will be
lifted off the shoulders of the peo-
pie of other nations.
We win receive our recompense
through our, Increased world trade
which We win have thus built VI