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Show NO MONEY TO RUSSIA Approval of the state department's advice to bankers not to lend money to other countries for reloaning to Russia is given by the Chicago Tribune. Trib-une. Money should be witheld, first because Russia is not paying its debts to the United States and, second sec-ond because any increase in money in Russia will mean increased red propaganda pro-paganda in other countries. The Tribune says: "The State Department has advised American bankers not to lend to nations which intend to use the borrowed bor-rowed money to build up trade with Russia. The government's attitude, it is surmised, induced W. Averill Harriman to abandon his negotiations negotia-tions for financing Germany's exports to Russia. "Our government has discouraged bankers from lending to nations which have not yet funded their war debts to the United States. As a result of the pressure thus brought upon them, Belgium, Italy and France promptly negotiated for the funding' cf their debts. The State Depart-! ment rightly contends that Russia, which owes this country more than . a quarter of a billion dollars, is entitled en-titled to no more favorable treatment j from our bankers than are the other j allies nations which, unlike Russia, were able to hold out until they won '' the victory. Russia's foreign trade is directly in the hands of the government. When our bankers assist Russian trade they are helping the Russian government as certainly as when our bankers advanced ad-vanced $100,000,000 to Italy they were helping the Italian government. Until Russia goes at least as far as Mussolini went toward paying what it owes, Russia is entitled to no help. The purpose of this country would be best served if loans were withheld with-held even if, contrary to all expectations, expecta-tions, Russia does start to pay. Any let up in Russia's revolutionary propaganda pro-paganda in America must be- attrib-! uted directly to the fact that she hasn't money to spend on it. The moment her prosperity increases she will start fomenting trouble in Europe Eu-rope and America. No one with an eye on events in China can believe , that the policy of encouraging foreign' revolutions has been abandoned by Russia. It has been abandoned in che western countries only because it is to Russia's interest at the moment to concentrate her troublemaking in the east. "It is hard to believe that bankers of all men in the world, have to be warned against the Russians. To the communist mind, the refusal to pay back money borrowed from any capitalist capi-talist is a virtue. Any one who thinks of advancing money to such a borrower, it is fair to assume, is talking talk-ing about somebody else's coin." |