Evening star., 1925-02-18
THE STORY OF THE FRENCH DEBT
BY WILLIAM p. HELM, JR.

| the war for the use of the American
| expeditionary forces.
| Monumental in their cost and
physical dimensions were these stores,
paid for with moneys borrowed, by
| the American Government from the
American people on Liberty bonds.
and from the heaviest burden of taxa-
| ton which this Nation had ever been
called upon to assume. They included
an entire railroad built in France
1 with American material supplied by
| American money; tremendous stores
| of explosives and shells made to fl
French guns; mountains of foodstuffs
and other necessary supplies, not for
| getting millions of dollars worth of
American tobacco.
The physical aspects and the value
of these mammoth stores-the largest
ever assembled by this Nation either
at home or abroad-wff1 be discussed
| in subsequent articles in which such
discussion will be more to the point.
| Suffice it to say here that their cost
| ran into the billions and that the
/ materials themselves were all stored
| behind the French lines when the
! armistice was signed.
| What to do with these stores in
our haste to get our soldiers back
! home became a real problem in the
months Immediately succeeding the
| cessation of hostilities. To ship them
back to America would have involved
tedious and delaying effort as well
as enormous expense. Besides, there
were other large stores Of surplus
materials in the United States
stores which had to be disposed OF
piecemea1 and with great skill TO
avoid breaking American markets
and precipitating American industry
| into a postwar panic
Sorely Needed by France.
! And over and above all, bleeding
France needed sorely nearly eyery-
! thlng we had stored upon her soil,
munitions alone excepted. She had
| vast and crying need for our food
stuits, our cotton, our railroad equip
ment. The obvious thing to do. the
1 thing which could work out only to
the advantage of both the United
States and the French people, was to
leave intact these huge depots of
supplies as they stood, SO that they
| might be put TO their most useful
purpose in relieving the wants of the
war-weary French people.
And that was done. With a superb
gesture, reminiscent of the fervor OF
our wartime endeavor, America
| waved her billions of surplus sup
france, leaving 1t to France herself,
| almost without supervision, to- fix
! the price to be paid. And France fixed
! the price, with peace-tine thrift at
| but small fraction of the original
| cost.
| With that there was no quarrel for
| the war was over and peace time is
1, the tSme for driving bargains, even
! between the best of friends. No one,
however, can truthfully assert that
! the United States acted the close trad
er in her dealings then. with her great
| ally.
! So France took theNgoods and gava
in return her promise to pay Not
| dollar changed hands in actual coin
| or currency over the transfer for our
| substance. The transfer was virtual
1 ly completed on August l, 1919. On
| that day the French government
| handed the United States it's 1o-year
| note for $500, 900, 900. That was the sum
| she paid for our surplus materials
subject to subsequent adjustments
which swelled the total to about
| s407, 900, 600.
Interest Payments Met.
That 10-year note provided on its
| face that interest should be paid on
| the $400,000,0oO at per cent an
| nually, but the sum was to bear no
interest at all for a year The first
semi-annual interest payment on this
| item was to be made Is months from
| the date of the obligation.
France met that interest payment
and has met every subsequent interest
payment on that item. The principal
of the note, or 100000, 900, now be-
comes due in about four years, or on
August ], 1929. All of which, of course,
! is in the nature of commercial
! transaction between nations, every
detail of which has been punctilious-
| ly, observed thus far, If that were all
there were to 1t, there would be little
point in rehearsing the transaction
at such length here.
But that Is not all. The point Is that
France borrowed 1901, ,050. 900 in cash
| and $40o,0o0,000 in supplies, a total
! of s1,20l, ,050.o00, in 1919 or from
! to Ia months after the war had ended.
That sum is almost 40 per cent of the
principal of her debt. And that sum,
some of her statesmen would have US
believe, should be cancelled along with
the rest as q matter OF fairneKs:Rud
justice.
tcOpyrisht. M