OCR Text |
Show Bankers Wrong in Making Loans to Nations for Military Preparations By HERBERT HOOVER, Secretary of Commerce. Nations should decline to lend money for purposes of military preparation. Money should be loaned only where some productive result would be gained by the recipient nation. No nation should itself borrow or should permit its citizens to borrow money from foreign countries unless this money is to be devoted to productive enterprises. Out of the wealth and the higher standards of living created from enterprise itself must come the ability to repay the capital, together with the net gain to the borrowing country. Any other course of action creates obligations impossible of repayment except by a direct subtraction from the standards of living of the borrowing country and tho impoverishment impover-ishment of its people. In fact if this principle could be adopted between nations of the world, that is, if nations would refuse to allow the lending ofjnoney for the balancing of budgets for military or war purposes, or even that type of public works which does not bring some direct or indirect productive pro-ductive return, a great number of blessings would follow to the entire world. |