FUNDING WAR DEBTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18757, 10 January 1923, Page 5

FUNDING WAR DEBTS

BRITLSH-AMERICAN NEGOTIATIONS OPENED. WILL PAY TO LAST CENT. Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright WASHINGTON, January 8. (Received January 9, at 11.25 p.m.) Mr Baldwin, in his speech a£ the opening of the Debt Funding Commission's meeting, declared ; We have clime to ex press our intention of repaying our debt. It is our custom to uay as we go, so far as wo can, and from that fixed principle we have no intention to depart. Our total annual per capita taxation is still greater than that of any other people. It amounts to more than 160 dollars per head of the population. Further taxation would decrease the purchasing power of the British working man, and would reduce our consumption of American products. There would be a diminished export for American cereals, cotton, meal, and other products. Desirous as we are to maintain the social scale of our workers, the effect of additional taxation would inevitably depress it. From the consequences of that I do not see how America can escape. The social nosition of the American working man has been raised to its present level in some measure as the result of the war. and is now the highest in the world, but if we are unable to buy from you—if we are foiced by stern necessity to economise still further, and to buy from yon only those things which wc must have and in greatly reduced quantities—the American farmer, as well as the American working man, will feel the pinch. He likewise will he compelled to economise. He will have to do with less, and will be brought down to a lower level of living. The payment of our debt to you will impose upon us the necessity of levying heavy taxes to meet these payments. Pointing out that Britain had made great sacrifices to balance her Budget, Air Baldwin declared: We are affected by the terrible economic situation of Europe, and are passing through the worst period of unemployment in our history. Having re card to all these circumstances, the British Government has to consider very carefully the terms of the liuuidation of it> debt, lest the annual obligation should he such as it might be impossible to meet in years of bad trade and falling revenue. In common with the rest of the world we have watched with admiration the open-handed charitv o[ America to the stricken countries of Europe. The generosity of America is proverbial, hut wc are not here to ask favour or to impose upon that eenerosilv. We want s”ch terms as will v ” - oduce the least possible disturbance in the trade relations of the two countries; a fair business settlement, a square deni, a settlement that -".’ill secure for America repayment to the last cent of those credits which the United States Government established in America for us in her association in the war. I wish to approach the discussion as_ a business man. seeking a business solution nt wha* is fundamentally a business nrohlem. Wo intend to "W. hut how best can international cred'ts be made Hauid. wbeu creditor nation i= unwilling to normit liquidation through the direct delivery of goods. and is also unwilling to se«> the current of hr- products to the ftphtnr nation interrupter!, and when the Jobtor "’’lions are nnwil’in" to be nut in the position of being nimble to buy tb° products of the creditor nation? A prompt nqrreeme-’t between the +, wo emat rlrrvibopacles in the world on this onestion will he a long step towards a solution of Eumne’s econnmi'e troubles, but unless th" problem i= solved th-we can b° no general revival of international trade.—A. and N.Z. Cable. The World War Foreign Debts Commission of th» United States consists o f three Cabinet officers and two members of Congress. Tliis commisrion took its powers from the Foreign Debt Refunding Bill passed bv Congress on February 9, 1922. Its members are: Mr Mellon. Secretary of the Treasury; Mr O. F. Hughes. Secretary of State; Mr H. C. Hoover. Secretary of Commerce; Senator Reed Smoot and Mr Theodore K. ‘ Burton, with Mr Eliot Wadsworth. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. as Secretary. The totel amount that America lent to foreign Governments, including the war debts and obligations for surplus materials i>nd food relief. *is 10,103.252.207 dollar,. Interest dim but unpaid totals 1,422.699.662 dollars. The debts, including interest, Ce_ .. Great Britain 4.746.862.560 Ere nee ... 5.770.M6.655 Ttnlv 1,991.514.674 Belgium ; «*SJS.7X? Sixteen other countries ... 687.152.284 Tot-ls 11.524.951.869 The “16' other countries” are Armenia, Austria, Cuba, Gzecho Slovakia, Esthonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Liberia, Lithuania. Nicaragua Poland, Rumania, Russia, and Serbia. /