Evening star., 1922-04-23
BY c. COULD LINCOLN.

FfER months of delay Uncle Sam is at
~ length ready to do business with the
~ foreign nations which owe. the United
\ States almost $11.500. .0000Q0 In prin-
cipal and interest. These huge obligations
contracted during the war. when this country
poured out Its millions to aid the allied ma
tions. have never before been funded They
stand /. o. us of the debtor nations. They
are acknowledged by the borrowers. but the
obligations have never been put into the form
of bonds securities.
This funding job-or refunding as it is some
times called-has been intrusted to commis-
sion--the World War Foreign Debt Commission.
officially And the commission Is now organ
lied. Already negotiations have been begun
with Great Britain, the largest debtor. Nego-
tiations will be undertaken by the commission
with all the other nations rapidly as may
be- The preliminary negotiations will be un-
dertaken with the foreign governments
through the regular diplomatic channels In
the case of some of the debtor nations. 1t Is
believed in informed circles that they will
eventually send commissions Of experts. and
possibly high government officials. to Wash
ington to complete the negotiations. This
probably will be the case in dealing with those
nations which owe the greatest amount OF
money In the case of the smaller debtors it
is likely that the entire transactions will be
conducted through their diplomatic repre-
sentatives here.
X X X
The World war Foreign Debt Commission Is
composed Of Secretary Mellon of the Treas
ury Department, who is chairman; Secretary
Hughes of the State Department, Secretary
Hoover Of the Department of Commerce. SEN
ator Smoot of Utah and Representative Burton
of Ohio. 1t has established Offices in the
Treasury building. and has chosen as Its sec
retary Elliott Wadsworth. assistant secre-
tary of the Treasury 1t is the purpose OF
the commissioners to make an exhaustive
study of the conditions existing in all the
countries debtor to the United States. and
whose debts must be refunded. This
means that the commissioners will seek to
determine the ability to pay OF each nation,
and that they will be guided very largely by
the results of the investigation in arriving
at the terms Of settlement. They will seek
to learn the financial status of the nations,
their obligations outside those held by the
. United States. their taxes. and their ability to
pay more taxes; what they are doing with
their revenues today; the prospects Of condi'
tions becoming better worse.
The commission will be able to draw on all
the government departments for information
in regard to the debtor nations The State
Department. Of course. is expected to furnish
a great deal of information. The Treasury
Department and the Department Of Commerce
also are in positions to be of very great serv-
ice in this matter. The heads of all three of
these departments are members of the COM
mission.
The obligations Of the foreign governments
of four sources-those held for advances
made under the various liberty bond acts
s9.434,774.S2s.24: those received from the Sec
retary of War and the Secretary of the Navy
on account of sales of surplus war materials
S5I4,673,7102l; those received from the Amer
lean Relief Administration. *s4.O93.s6s.55, and
those held by the United States Grain Cor
80g a of