OCR Text |
Show United States Is Now the World's Banker , mm enterprises paying dividends of hundreds hun-dreds of millions of dollars, and the volume of American Investment abroad is increasing daily. The balance of trade In favor of the United States represents a continuous credit piled up In foreign countries to the order of American manufacturers, formers and exporters. That Item alone represents a loan that totals many millions at any given time. The billions more or less permanently permanent-ly invested in foreign countries place the United States in an advantageous position to increase its export trade. Foreign purchases flow to the country which loans its dollars to build and operate factories, railroads and Industries Indus-tries generally. American dollars are now building meat packing plants In South America, cement factories In China, knitting mills and machinery to operate In Japan, municipal docks in France, street car lines In Switzerland and railroads throughout Europe. Millions are invested each month In the United States in bonds and other securities offered for sale by foreign governments and foreign municipalities. municipali-ties. Listed in the New York exchanges are the bonds of a dozen foreign cities and governments. fXTASHINOTON. An official publl-vv publl-vv cation of the federal reserve board discloses how completely the United States has taken the place of Great Britain as the world's banker, the leading investor in foreign enterprises. enter-prises. In addition to the ,$11,000,000,-000 ,$11,000,000,-000 war loans by the United States to the allies, private American capital has advanced $4,000,000,000 to foreign borrowers since 1914. With trade credits taken into account, it is estimated esti-mated that the world owes us between 15.000,000,000 and $18,000,000,000. Time was when the United States was a debtor nation, with England and other foreign nations heavy investors in our enterprises. Now we are a creditor nation and garnering profits abroad. More than $2,000,000,000 of American Ameri-can capital is now invested in foreign T Belated Justice for "Boy Desperadoes" fTUiREE small boys, seven, eight and eleven, now serving five-year prison terms for alleged burglary of a post office in West Virginia, soon will gain their liberty and be returned to their parents through the interest and intervention inter-vention of Mrs. Warren G. Harding. Investigation of their cases by the Department of Justice, which followed Mrs. Harding's intervention, disclosed an unusual chain of circumstances which led to the imprisonment of these "youthful desperadoes." Officials said they never should have been sentenced. They already have served about six months in the national reform school. The lads are Andy Bergola, seven ; Frank Boska, eight, and Teddy Bos-ba, Bos-ba, eleven. Their parents live at Weirton, W. Va. They were tried in the Federal court of northern West Virginia before Judge Baker and were sentenced along with seven other older old-er boys, ranging in years up to fifteen, each to five years at penal servitude. The chief evidence against the youngsters, it is shown now, was furnished fur-nished by bloodhounds. The dogs used by the police of Weirton took up a scent at the point of the alleged robbery rob-bery and tracked it through the woods to a settlement of steel workers. There police gathered up the ten boys and, on what now is said to have been purely pure-ly circumstantial evidence, all wera found guilty. The attorney general's investigation showed the three youngsters, along with the seven other alleged "desperadoes," "des-peradoes," as they were called by the district attorney, were put through the third degree and that police offU cers at Wierton wrung confessions ot guilt from the boys. They later denied their gniit and so pleaded, but apparently appar-ently were victims of police prejudice, In a locality where the steel worker are under the lash of police authorities. Field Service for Many Army Officers Ice to the other activities of the army Is 192, with six additional staff officers offi-cers to complete their four-year term of service by early fall and return to duty with troops. The reduction In officer personnel In Washington was made possible as a result of a study ordered by Secretary, Weeks to determine the extent ta which war activities had been closed out sufficiently to permit additional officers to be spared to stations "where1 their services could be used to better advantage." Every branch of the War department; was included in the reduction of officers of-ficers personnel. From the general staff, 21 officers were listed for imrae-' dlate transfer, 12 for transfer after June 30 and 6 for release later In tha year on expiration of their four-year term of duty. The office of the assistant secretary of war will lose 13 officers immediate; ly, due to closing out of war claims; the air service, 9 officers; judge advocate advo-cate general's office, 18 officers ; quartermaster quar-termaster general's office, 29 officers; the chief of ordnance, 14 officers, and the adjutant general, 17. NEARLY a dozen colonels, a score of lieutenant colonels and more than 60 majors are included in a list of 164 army officers to be relieved from duty in Washington before the end of the present fiscal year and assigned to field service issued by the War department. depart-ment. The others are captains and lieutenants. The list also carries the names of 28 officers who will be detached from their present duty in the War department depart-ment as soon after the end of the fiscal fis-cal year as is possible to permit them to attend the service school classes opening in August and September. The total number of officers to be thus transferred from War department serv- Sympathy Is All U. S. Can Give Armenia a (In AWFUL 1 JOfW FOR OYMPATHY is all the United States can give Armenia. The United States sincerely hopes that the League of Nations will be able to do something some-thing to relieve the political, economic and financial condition of Armenia, under un-der the terms of the new agreement which apparently has been reached among the allied ministers to turn the country over to the league for administration. adminis-tration. High udmlnlstration officials admitted admit-ted that mis country Is watching developments de-velopments in connection with the fate of Armenia, with interest. It is known that Secretary of State Hughes, himself, him-self, has always had a very sympa-. sympa-. thetlc attitude toward Armenia. The administration has not lost sight of the fact that the allies offered the United States a mandate over Armenia, but the officials are hearing in mind that any enterprise by this government govern-ment would undoubtedly call for the use of a considerable body of troops in the fight to evict the Bolshevists who are now in control. There is no lack of sympathy on the part of this administration, it was asserted, as-serted, but the ftct remains that the American people undoubtedly would j not stand for the necessary outlay o( men and money which would be involved in-volved in any attempt to assist the Armenians Ar-menians in their struggle for establishment establish-ment as a free and independent nation. The nation takes no cognizance of the boundary lines drawn by an American Amer-ican commission at the Instance of former for-mer President Woodrow Wilson, it was staled at the State department. So far as this administration Is concerned con-cerned there is no record of the s-called s-called Morgenthau commission, named by former President Wilson for the purpose of laying oat Mie boundaries of Armenia. |