The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-02-11
PRESS ON BRITISH DEBT

The funding of the British war debt to us is matter which has been largely dwelt upon by the press and much discussed by congress. Divested of vague-sounding eco- homie allusions which presuppose deep knowledge of profound affairs and of com- plicated calculations wearying to the average mind, the subject is far from uninteresting in its outstanding issues. Such outstanding issues are whether we shall cut Great Britains interest rate, on the four billions of dollars she borrowed from us, from four and half per cent. down to three and a half per cent, with an amortization rate of three per cent. It may be said that perhaps a majority of the press is in favor of making the easier terms to Great Britain by ac- cepting the plan agreed upon by the Debt Funding Commission. Congress created the Debt Funding Commission, then proceed ed to tie it's hands," protests the Philadel- phia Inquirer, quoted by the Literary Di- gest in it's review of the situation. In tying the commissions hands, the Inquirer goes on to say that congress makes a hard and fast rule that England must settle within twenty-five years, and that the interest shall be at the rate of four and half per cent. year, or more than two hundred mil lion dollars" The Syracuse Post-Standard expresses the opinion that: We cannot collect that amount. We cannot in decency do it." The Springfield Republican ob- serves: So honorable debtor as Great Britain should be granted the most favora- ble terms of payment" With this view number of papers agree, among them the Baltimore News, the Washington Star, New York Tribune and the Brooklyn Eagle. Also number of southern papers, including the Courier-J Journal, Atlanta Journal and the Chattanooga News are of the same le- nient mind.
 Representing the view that there is no conceivable reason for us to maze such enor- nous concessions as are asked is another section of the press. The New York Jour nal of Commerce, always conservative, does not agree at all with the British Chancellor of the Exchequer when in reminding us of our obligation to give England Square deal,'' he stated: "Ths debt is not debt for dollars sent to Europe. The money was all expended here Gin the United States) ], most of it for cotton, wheat, food products and munitions of wra." To this the Jour nal of Commerce replies: "Some of this money-it has been estimated at billion and half-was used in keeping the British pound stable in the market" And Garet Garrett, well-known financial writer, says in the Saturday Evening Post: Our War Industries Board was continually vexed at the procedure of taking steel away from ;nJ, ,,,+ +bo II,;+ British steel makers continued to export steel products from Great Britain for profit" This writer adds: "The United States was charged war prices for the things we bought in the British Empire, while Great Britain on it's purchases in the United States, re- ceived full benefit of war-control prices" The Providence News reminds us that under the treaty the United States received no reparations and that England took hers until she was gorged, getting besides all the mer- chant shipping of Germany and an empire in Africa.
 To return briefly to the view favoring the acceptance of the cut-rate interest proposi- tion the New York World, after stating that our loss of this one and one-haf per cent. interest is the only argument against the plan, says: "The Liberty bonds have no such length of time to run as the proposed British debt bonds, and within a very few years it will almost certainly be possible for the United States to refund these bonds at less than three and half per cent" The World adds: "No one can say now, but the fact is to be considered that it was able to refund its civil war debt at half the rate of issue. It is necessary. for the congress sional obstructionists to understand that the American people will not favor any note-shavng calculations in dealing With this or any other foreign debtor" In stat ing that in very few years it will almost certainly be possible for this government to refund it's bonds at less than three anu half per cent. the World is discounting mere possibility, and what happened after the civil war is in no sense comparable with what may happen now, and is happening in the world. Since the proposed reduction amounts to nearly forty millions year, 1t really appears that the American press would better defend the American taxpayer rather than the British taxpayer.