Show i j 1 WHAT ABOUT BOND INTEREST I DISMAL ISMAL and drab as ever the war debt 1 problem raises its ugly head One after I p another various European debtors intimate or declare openly that they cannot pay the interest or principal due the United States in December Those Installments are among the resources we have been counting on to meet interest on the bonds bought by Americans Amen Ameri cans during the wartime drives to finance Europe's war Not for tor or an Instant does it occur to us to S tell ten these holders of our governments government's bonds that they cannot pay them because Eu Europe ope I Is not paying us How are these bondholders to be paid Nobody knows We have given our public servants to understand understand un un- that we want those war debts collected col col- col- col Suppose Europe comes back with the I excuse that she cannot pay in gold because most of at the worlds world's gold is in the United States nor in goods because we have erected a tariff wall to keep her goods out I We do not pretend to have the answer to the question question question ques- ques tion that tha this would bring up Isn't it to answer answer answer an- an such questions that we elect a president president dent and congress w. w The president may have a strong suspIcIon suspicion cion clan that o our r foreign debtors could pay their current liabilities if It they were half halt as eager to pay for the last war as they are to pay for the n next one But what do suspicions or even 4 certainties amo amount nt to A nation has not the status of ot an indivIdual indi- indi vidual creditor It cannot levy on the goods and chattels of other othe nations It If the debtor 1 I nations refuse to meet their obligations the government of the creditor country is is' likely to need extraordinary ingenuity to obtain a satisfactory settlement r Anyone ca can forgive the debts of the aliens and bludgeon the money out of the taxpayers c at home The acid test of statesmanship is X 1 its success in getting the money of its citizens citi- citi t zens back from those who borrowed and andi i spent it t |