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Show That Half Billion Loan THEY had to close the subscription before time and even then' the half billion loan to France and England had been oversubscribed. Had the deal been for the full billion, the chances are even that it would all have been taken in a day. This is a reminder that one hundred and sixty years ago Benjamin Franklin, assisted by two other great Americans, worked for two years in Paris to secure a loan of $10,000,000 for his country coun-try before he succeeded in obtaining It and ever since historians have been prone to declare that without that assistance the colonies could not t hjave achieved independence. We have never credited that statement, for with them it was a case of "Give me liberty or give me death," and men thus inspired do not often fail in their purposes. pur-poses. But there was more than cold-blooded financing financ-ing in the making of that loan. We suspect that it was looked upon as a gift by most nations, for the securities behind the loan did not at that time have a first-class look. There was very little sentiment in the present loan. It was cold-blooded business and its most striklrig feature Is the evidence it furnished of the vast reserved wealth of the United States. Indeed, In-deed, the object lesson supplied by It will make the nations of the world reflect before they will seek any serious embroilment with the Great Republic, Re-public, while the statesmen of Great Britain will ask themselves how long their country can maintain main-tain itself as the world's financial center. She may thank the Indifference of our government to its ocean commerce and the consequent neglect of the opportunities offered by foreign lands for making trade alliances, that she has retained that control so long. A country the soil and mines .? wlllch y611 $1.200,000,000 net annually could, in wise hands soon make the "greatest of" outside " nations look second rate. Finally, to show what time does with money, It is only necessary to remember that if the fathers had not been able to pay France back the $10,-000,000 $10,-000,000 she loaned them, the debt at 6 per cent now would have been $76,000,000 more than the half billion, which the present loan calls for. Who says that the man who Invented Interest was not the wisest of "men? |
