, 1923-01-28

Fir, let US realize" says Mr..
Babsou. that the coming to THU
country Of Stanley Baldwin, British
chancellor OF the exchequer. Mon
tague c. Norman, governor of Bank
of England, and their associates from
the greatest empire n the world. with
mats IN and and begging for mercy.
Is one of the greatest events in our
financial history. For centuries
Great Britain has been the worlds
greatest creditor and all nations. in,
Guiding our own, have owed the Brit.
ish empire billions OF dollars.
1.-THE wal turned tho financial
world upside down. Certain great ma
lions like Germany emerged bank.
rupt: France. the worlds greatest
investment nation, emerged debtor;
while England. to whom everyone
came for advice, now comes to Wash.
ington for help. Truly this is the
most dramatic economic n finan.
cial event in the history of our m
ton. It also emphasizes the fact that
we have Il great financial respons.
bility as well as a great opportunity
Therefore, It is with this thought in
mind that We must mako our decI
sions.
This whole question OF reparat,on,
continued Mr.. Babson. rs bound up
with s~ympathles, politics. and ma
tional feeling. Owing to h latter.
without doubt, a great many people
in our country sympathizc with Ger.
many and many others through the!i
love for Ireland hate England. Franz
study OF the situation, however
should convince any dis!ntereste6
party that Germany Is in the pos
ton Of q burglar who attempted a
colossal steal but was caught and d"
featod in his plans. Irrespective Of
the question of Furnishing this burg
lar, all must ADMIT that he SHOULD
made amends for the goods which he
partly got eway with and DESTROYED
France, therefore should not be crit
oised for insisting that Germany res
tore, as far as possible. the property
which was destroyed and damaged in
her attempt to burglarize. Every
dislnterested party must admit that
this Ia reasonable. France is asking
OF Germany only what m one OF us
would ask of a nelGhbor who at
tempted the same thing in our com
munity.
1.-THE a that France has re-
Gently lost sympathy in her neEotiB-
tons with Germany Is due to the
fact that she is going at her problem
IN the wrong way. Frances difficulty
is that she Is inconsistent. She wants
n certain economic law apply to her
u wants to suspend It in the a 8
of Germany. Perhaps this is more
or less true of all the allies.
eially when they say that they can
not afford to pay their indebtedness
TO the United States. Yet when one
looks at the statistics he finds that
England, France. Italy, and all the
allies combined owe the United States
only about ten billion dollars. while
they are demanding of Germany
alone r~eparations OF over thirty bill
lion doIlarsi OF course, II Germany
can pay any such amounts as France
demands, there is absolutely no
doubt but that England, France, and
tho rest Of them. can very easily pay
a smaller amount TO the United
States. President Harding and his
cabinet, and all others who have
looked into the matter evidently mp
preclate this situation.
" W AAo ~ NoSAAN AAAN
Is the only one of the allies who has
made an honest attempt to return
any money TO us. England is paying
interest on its Indebtedness while the
other countries have sent us prac-
tically nothing. It is true that Eng
land has a commission here today
pleading mercy; but we should be
fair with England and recognize that
she has mad her payments thus far
IN accordance with her agreements.
Az TO what we will eventually do
with these foreign debts cannot DO
foretold 1t the present time. Ger
tainly It would be useless to cancel
them today and have these European
nations 90 on another great spree
or spend our money playing military
power. II. however. these nations
would repent OF their sins, dlsband
their armies. and i've honesty and
decently, I believe tho United States
would be glad to help. On the sur
face. the difficulty with Europe is
financial; but q statistical study
shows very clearly that tho real
trouble with Europe IS spiritual. Be
fore we, or any other country can
help Europe, the European nations
must change their purposes motives.
and attitude toward God and n an
other.
'"Untn this time comes I cannot a.
vtse nnyons TO buy or wen holc, Eu.
ropean securities. After paying for
b bare necessities OF life Europe has
a surplus which It can use either 20
maintain armies or pay interest on
.u indebtedness. but II has not sur.