Evening star., 1925-07-26

cent days taking account Of
- stock in foreign trade and the
contrast has served to provoke
| many comments on both sides of the
| Atlantic. With US, for example, the
! figures for last year show a favorable
| balance of materially more than a bill
lion dollars. representing the excess of
exports over imports. With the Brit
ish, on the other hand, the official fig
| ures show that an adverse balance of
| almost two billion dollars is to be ex-
| pected in the current year
On the British side of the table, too,
the figures have been accompanied by
certain statements, which give rise to
very grave discussions Thus 1t is
stated by credible experts that while
| last year, in the face of a very large
adverse trade balance, the surplus of
British exports over imports, when
| the invisible sources are reckoned,
such as investments in foreign copn-
tries, returns on shipping, insurance,
etc, was just short of $3.50 900, 600,
this year the estimates forecast a sur
! plus of imports over exports with
everything included of little less than
! the same amount.
Nation Lives on Capital.
Assuming the accuracy of these es.
, Inmates, then, the British people are
/ facing situation where for the first
! time in upward of a century. war
periods excepted, British expenditure
| has been greater than British income
! and the nation is thrust back into the
position OF living, not upon it's income,
| but In part upon its capital. And the
] logical consequence of this process. IL
| continued, must be the liquidation of
British foreign investments to meet
| the costs of British imports and thus
| the gradual dissipation of British cap
! ital
Before the war British returns an
! nually from all sources left the ma
| ton with a very handsome balance
| to invest abroad. a balance which was
! not much inferior TO that of the
| United States at the present hour;
namely. a billion dollars a year. But
! during the war the British were COM
| PEELED to sell many gilt-edged foreign
securities to pay for purchases abroad
mainly in the United States. Moreover,
since the war and particularly after
| the boom Of 1921. which was fear
fully shortlived, the excess of imports
over exports has been mounting at a
staggering rate, while the process has
! been accentuated by the debt settle.
| ment with America which involves an
annual payment of $3.50. 900 900. which
will rise presently to something more
! than $3.50. 900 600.
Concomitantly with the dropping of
the trade balance there has come
quite logically, the growth of pern1a.
nent unemployment in the British
| Isles. Moreover. what is most alarm.
| Ing is the fact that after having
reached the dangerous total of 1900.
600 several years ago and then begun
| to decline until the million point was
reached, the figures are now again
mounting steadily at a period of the
year when employment should be best
! Thus they have again nearly reached
a million and a quarter and the fore
casts today are for million and three
! quarters next Winter
100000 Living on Dole.
On the present figures it is esti
mated that more than five million
people, upward of an eighth of the
| whole population, is living on the ex.
iguous unemployment dole or in other
words, being supported in enforced
idleness, while the prospect is that the
number will represent at least one
seventh of the population next Win.
ter. Moreover. this situation may be
terribly complicated if the threatened
strike Of the whole coal industry takes
place.
Exactly. then. as the United States
| is in a period of almost unexampled
prosperity. Great Britain is enduring a
time OF depression which Is hardly
paralleled in British history and is the
more serious since it's causes are ap
parently fundamental, not temporary
| Moreover, one has only to glance
briefly at the press of Britain and tC
note the comments Of public men. tc
perceive that the whole country is
concentrating its attention upon its
present difficulties to the exclusion OF
all else. and that even minor details
such as British shipping companies
orders for new ships in German yards
while unemployment in the Clydeside
and Belfast yards is notorious and
Australian application for loan ir
New York and not in London provoke
an incalculable amount of discussion
and even recrimination.
When the British situation is stud
led closely, it becomes clear that, save
for Russia, no country has suffered sc
great domestic economic disturbance
as the British as a consequence Of the
war, while in practically every other
country the situation, which was yer,
serious Immediately at the close o.
the World War, is showing greater
proportional improvement than tine
British. Thus the current French
trade statistics show that France
which in pre-war days rarely balanced
her exports and imports, has so fal
this year a favorable balance Of S113.
900, 900 for the first five months. which
would mean a total favorable visibl,
balance for the year, If the rate con
tinued, of nearly $500, 900 900, together
with sum at least equally large rep
resenting tourist trade, foreign invest
ments and other invisible income
while French unemployment is prac
tically nil.
Recovery Not Apparent.
Notwithstanding the fact that tn
world Is slowly but surely getting bacl
to normalcy, recovery in Great Brit
. ain is not taking place. On the con
trary, in certain vital industries like
coal the slump is growing at an ap
palling rate. What does it mean ant
what is the explanation? Beyond al
else in studying such an Intricate
, question 1t must be perceived tina
, many forces are operating to produc'
the general result, that the war. whil
1t did violence to economic life il
many countries. worked peculiar harm
. to the British. In fact. and this Is tn
starting point, Great Britain was tn
most vulnerable of all great countrie
when the war broke.
This vulnerability lay in the who'll.
, one sided development Of the Unite'
, Kingdom in the last century. TIL
, great industrial development began II
the British Isles. 1t proceeded at
more rapid rate than elsewhere AM
the people of Britain gradually mad
{ over their country on the assumr
r tion that it was to remain the work
/ shop Of the world. The population
grew by leaps and bounds. the critic
t became many and huge, the rural dis
tricts were abandoned, agriculture dis
) appeared. BY the end of the centur,