PAYING AMERICA.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 1 December 1925, Page 7

PAYING AMERICA.

WHY ENGLAND IS DOING IT,

PARTLY “FINANCIAL SWANK.”

Mr. H. If. Henderson, editor ot the Nation, recently addressed members oi tin* summer sc.bool at, Bt. Hilda’s Hall, Oxford, organised by the National I’nion of Societies for Equal Citizenship. reports, the Manchester Guardian. Mr. Henderson spoke on “International Debt*,.” . International indebtedness bad. said Mr. Henderson, done a great deal since the war to poison international relate * ns. it was a problem which had no parallel in past history. There was nothing comparable to the conditions which existed to-day and under which various Governments owed other Governments enormous sums ot money, sums so huge that no one knew whether the Governments would be able to repay each other. The Dimes hi port marked the first step towards gciting the problem of international indebtedness upon a reasonable and practicable footing.

On the economic side lie believed H was now generally agreed that extra ordinarv illusions'were held by many as to the abilities of the different Governments to make enormous payments. It would seem that the reason for such fantastic- expectations was that poopm likened the problem to that which existed between individuals when one bad to make the other a large payment. That, however, was not an accurate basis of comparison, for no nation was rich in the way that, individuals are. Vast numbers of any nation’s people were comparatively poor, and one could not take laige sums from a nation without seriously depressing the standard of living Of even tlie very rich people.

In practice attempts to exact very large sums of money from any particular country actually iujuicd the countries to whom the payments were nmde. In demanding large sums of money from Germany, supposing she could raise such sums, the difficulties of transferring such money to the Allies without upsetting tlie. whole of the exchanges of the world were very real and great. This and many other difficulties the Dawes Scheme, had overcome by making Germany contribute to a reparations account, from which arrangements were made for transfers of money by a committed composed ot members of each of the Allied countries entitled to payment. It was their duty to see. that such payments were made without causing any disturbance to the exchanges or trade relations of the world. In this way the difficulty of apportioning the payments had been placed on the shoulders of the Allies, and not upon Germany. Having regard to the difficulties of the time, the Dawes Scheme was an excellent way out of a very awkward position, but whether successive generations in Germany would go on carrying the burdens of reparations was a matter upon which no opinion could be given.

Just as lie regarded it. as an impossible business to exact huge payments for reparations from Germany, so also did 111' regard an attempt to demand the repayment of inter-Allied debts as contrary to all. decency. Although we would not think of demanding payment for llu* armies we had sent into Frnm-.e we now demand payment for munitions we had sent. The attitude which demanded payment for those rnuntions was, lie thought, quite illogical. The right way would have been for an all-round cancellation of debts, but, America insisted on regarding them as ordinary debts, and had persuaded herself that, she was rendering a very great service to morality by demanding payment for them.

Britain, on lier side, out of a confusion of ideas, some of them very virtuous, no doubt, but. also due to that, of financial swank, had accepted the American position, and agreed to pay sums ranging up to thirty millions a year in repayment. That having been flone. it was not practical politics that we should cancel the French debt to us. YVo should rather in tlie circumstances get as much from France as we could, in repayment of her debt to us.

Possibly, the best way out of the difficulty would be for German reparations to pass through the hands of Franco and go to America. By that arrangement Britain would be very much down financially on the war. France not very much out, while America vould be tlie only country to draw something like sixty millions ot seventv millions from Germanv.

As long as the debt problem remained there was always a possibility of its giving rise to strained relations between countries, while it was also likely to cause ill-feeling as between America and Europe.