New-York tribune., 1922-07-16
Canceling War Debts
The Allies Paid Us in Full Holding
the Hun Till We Came In
To the Editor of The Tribune.


To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Before the French agents ar
rive we SHOULD try to be reasonable
regarding the debt of his government
to ours. 1t is absurd to want to be
paid and yet not in the only way we
can be paid, if indeed there is any way
France got no gold from US and has
none to give back. She got moneys
worth in goods, and if it were not for
our tariff wall she might be able to
sell some goods here and let us take
the proceeds, but this would not suit
is at all. Everybody here wants to see
american goods 60 to France, at least
o the extent that French goods come
mere. No French goods, not even wines,
are wanted here merely to settle old
debts. Mais, que voulez vos?
Unreasonable, too, or worse, is our
failure to appreciate what France did
and suffered while we were making
money out Of the war We did not
stay out of the war so long for the
purpose Of making money. Circum-
stances controlled the situation. 1t
takes long time for great nation
like ours to resolve upon war. Our
peaceful attitude, however, gave US the
opportunity to accumulate most of the
loose gold in the world to pay off our
debts, and to become the only great
creditor nation on this planet. In
1914 France and Belgium were the out
posts Of our civilization. Germany
intended to dominate the world. Eng
land felt that the blow was intended
for her as we'll, but we took years to
see that the war was really our war, al
though 5000 miles away.
Our soldiers and sailors saved the
world from military domination, but
our people must save it again, this time
in the industrial, commercial and
financial sense. From 1914 to 1917 was
much too long to allow western Europe
to struggle alone against the German
hordes. From 1918 to 1922 is much too
long for us to sit tight on our money
bags, while our friends suffer from in
dustrial stagnation.
The world needs a fair chance to
make fresh start. First, there should
be some canceling of war debts. No
better beginning could be made than
our. own wiping out of what France
and Belgium owe US. These countries
borrowed money to spend here, pay
ing our citizens a wartime profit. The
goods that were shipped were de-
stroyed in fighting against our enemies,
for it must be remembered that our
government began to help only after
we had declared war. We ought never
to have considered our loans as ordinary
loans. They should have been con-
tributions in common cause, for al
though we were in the war we were not
ready to fight. 1t took us about a year
to prepare. Three years elapsed be-
tween the sinking Of the Lusitania,
May, 1915, and the placing Of Ameri-
can armies in the battle area.
If we had promptly declared war
after the Lusitania outrage our losses
might have been no greater than they
actually were, and certainly the war
would soon have been ended. Our
friends would have saved millions of
lives and billions of treasure, and
would not have been obliged to borrow
money Of us. Our canceling of war
debts is right policy now, either from
the moral or the economic standpoint.
The debts of western Europe are real
!. only as long as we fail to appreciate
the value to us of the holding of the
enemy in check with sacrifices of blood
until we could come to the rescue. If
our friends had failed we might even
now be still trying to resist vic
torious Germany. Our canceling of
war debts should be considered as the
giving of compensation for services
rendered
j. HOWARD CowPERTHwAIT.
New York, july 10. 1922.