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Show V CLEAR-GOT STATEMENT . OF EUROPEAN PROBLEMS More Economics, Less Politics Seen as Necessity Sound Money Required. The problem of European rehabilitation rehabili-tation is set forth in simple and clear-cut terms in a statement of the general principles involved, preparpd for the Journal of the American Bankers Association by B. M. Anderson, Ander-son, Jr., an economist of national reputation, who has devoted particular particu-lar study to America's interest in the foreign situation. Mr. - Anderson schedules these main principles as follows : 1. Free play of private enterprise enter-prise is the great hope of the future. fu-ture. This means, on the one hand, that governments should withdraw as rapidly as possible from the practice of bread subsidies, sub-sidies, unemployment doles, public pub-lic operation and control of industry, in-dustry, and the like. It means, on th other hand, that many governments must perform far better than they have been performing per-forming what Is perhaps the greatest economic function of government the provision ot sound money as a basis for safe business. 2. Economic considerations must be given priority over political politi-cal considerations, and steps toward to-ward rehabilitation must be based on a realistic summing up of assets as-sets and liabilities. 3. Patchwork solutions dealing deal-ing with only one or two elements ele-ments of the problem are unlikely to be successful. Just because reparations and Interallied debts, public finance, currency reform re-form and so on are really tied together, it is necessary that we should undertake to accomplish II of them in one comprehensive plan if we are to accomplish much In connection with any of them. A Comprehensive Plan 4. A comprehensive plan should undertake to accomplish the following things: (a) The restoration of the moneys of continental Europe to a gold basis. Since this obviously cannot be done for most of the former belligerents at the old gold pars, it is necessary that newer and much lower gold pars should be established, at which gold redemption can be speedily begun and certainly maintained. In the case of those currencies whose values have approached the vanishing point, even more drastic measures may be necessary. (b) Public finances must be reformed re-formed by such drastic increases in taxes and such radical' reductions in expenditures as will enable the governments gov-ernments to pay their way without further increase in domestic debt. Floating debts should be funded into long time issues. (c) A workable adjustment of the reparations problem based on economic eco-nomic realities is essential. (d) Artificial trade barriers must be greatly modified. (e) The governments of Great Britain Brit-ain and the United States, in consideration consid-eration of radical reforms on the continent of Europe, can well afford to reduce greatly or even cancel the debts of their continental allies. (f) The bankers of the United States, Great Britain, Japan and perhaps per-haps other non-European countries, in consideration of financial reforms in continental Europe, should, and doubtless would, be ready to place with the Investors of their countries substantial blocks of continental securities se-curities to provide necessary working work-ing capital, to facilitate the financial and currency reforms and to assist in industrial revival on the continent of Europe, taking great pains that no part of the new loans be used for non-essential purposes. |