SUBSTANTIAL AID

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 98, 25 April 1917, Page 6

SUBSTANTIAL AID

President Wilson said the participation of the United States in the war would i involve "the utmost practical co-opera-tion with the Powers now at war with Germany." That co-operation, financially speaking, is now taking shape, and its substantial character is manifest. The •Bonds Bill has passed the United States Legislature, and only awaits Mr. Wilson's signature. Of the £1,000,000,000 proposed to. be raised, £600,000,000 will be placed at the disposal of the Allies, and the balance will be applied to the United States' own war purposes. The aid to the Allies will take the form of food and other necessary supplies, rather than a transfer of sovereigns. What the loan will amount to is the establishment in America of an Entente credit of £600,000,000, upon which the Entente can draw for the payment of essential supplies purchased in the United States. Ultimately this transaction, which is one of exchange, will be settled to a large extent by the exportation to the United States of goods produced by the borrowing Powers, and so iar as Australia arid New Zealand are concerned wool, skins, and hides will, no doubt, contribute when the exclusive, demand for them by, the Allies has been satisfied so far as pressing military requirements are concerned. The American banks, speaking metaphorically, are "bulging with gold.'' They have tod much of it. They require business to and fro all the tinra —a pendulum movement rather than ihe one-sided trade position of the moment. Aggregate imports' of Allied countries from the United States at the present time are enormous; whereas their exports to the States have dwindled down all the time of the war. The aggregate 'annual imports of the Allied 'countries (including the British Dominions) from the United States were £233,452,000 in 1913. In 1916 they had risen to £858,700,000. It was a lopsided trade arrangement ■, for - the most part, but made inevitable by the war. The £600,000,000 loan will act as a corrective and-carry out Mr. Wilson's definitely expressed intention to continue to assist the Allied Governments by supplying them with materials, not-withstanding that the United States itself has accepted the status of belligerent. • „:■ .