| Show NATIONAL NA AFFAIRS AFF J Reviewed J by CARTER CARRR FIELD FiELO Loans Loam to 10 Latin American countries elto to encourage trade viewed with J fishy hy eye ye ye by congress ia Experience with war loans loam leaves b bad badA A taste Fewer people now expect e. Roosevelt to run for third term Popularity of o some Veto New teal beal policies on the decline WASHINGTON Congress Congress views with a fishy Ashy eye the Idea so popular in hi the treasury department and with exporters for large loans to the various Latin American coun tries Of course there is 11 the occasional occa atonal member from a district where factories are clamoring for forthe forthe forthe the orders it Is ii expected such loans would aid Dut But for the most part what happened to similar loans Joans made for the same trade ing purpose is 11 still tIU green in the memory of the senators or representatives themselves or their con con- Of course the present situation is complicated by the supposed designs de de- designs signs of III Hitler tier and Mussolini on Latin America But so difficult is 11 any intelligent solution of this question ques Lion tion of loans that it might be seriously sort seri argued it would be far better not only for Latin-America Latin but for forthe forthe forthe the United States If f instead of callIng call call- Ing these proposed credits loans Joans we would actually call them gifts to start with It sometimes happens that a human human human hu hu- hu- hu man being or a nation is grateful for a gift Its It's not a thing that can be counted upon either in n human or national relationships but it does happen once in n a while Certainly I it never has the opposite effect But Dut loans They simply are never appreciated Occasionally in the years that followed the war American American Ameri can travelers in Europe discovered some gratitude dating back to the American relief which was purely gratuitous But Dut has anyone ever reported re re- ported any friendly feeling because of the billions the United States loaned the stricken European nations na na- nations after alter the Armistice Which by bythe bythe bythe the way adds up to Just a little less than the Ule totals of all debts to the United States by those governments after otter downward of their debts in jn the settlement agreements worked out while Calvin Coolidge was President So that the called so-called war loans loans' were a gift I after all even legally WorM World Owes Oles Us Vs More Than Billion Dollars But consider the problem of further further fur tur ther loans to Latin America and what will come later It may be said that the money will never leave this country Only the goods that the money thus loaned will buy That may be true But Dut is any permanent per manent good accomplished by selling sell leU ing goods for which one will probably probably probably proba proba- bly never be paid Especially if the debt thus Ulus accumulated promises promiseS' to tobe tobe tobe be a grievance more calculated to tomake tomake tomake make hard bard feeling a few years hence hence hence-as as in the case of the tile debts of ot the Allies Ames to the United States States- I than to be appreciated And hew else could the transactions terminate Already the world owes the United States more tha than n 12 billion dollars of which some 4 billion Is owed by Latin America Assuming a willingness to pay how bow bowIs w is Latin America going to do it What Is she going to use for money Gold We dont don't want any more even if Latin America had bad it t to pay or might accumulate some it some years year s hence Bence Our government has near nearly fourteen and a half billion dollars dollar s worth of gold now and no one 1 is s sure what it is worth to us w us or what wha its value would be if lf the only bt big C buyer in the world Uncle Undo Sam suddenly suddenly sud denly stopped bidding 35 Pi an ounce for font it The only way Latin America can car n pay is with goods or services But Dut t those must be goods or services la is excess of goods and services which h the United States sells to La Latin tin America oils Far Theories as to What Wha Caused Depression It is very popular among amateur amateur ama economists and political politic alibi alib i seekers to blame the de depression n 1 that started with the crash of October October Oc tober 1929 on the war It is 11 often otter alleged that this terrible aftermath th of the war engulfed the whole world and that nothing the United States State I could have bave done would have averted d it Another Mother school of economists u blame what happened on the cra crazy r wave of speculation in stocks th the of prices until a eras crash h was wag inevitable and that the eras crash h inevitably worked the depression But another theo theory is being evolved by some of the al I opponents of further loans to La LaIn Lat Latin t in America that the chic chie f cause for the crash and the depression depres depre s sion slon that followed was nothing ex es Dept the fact that the United States State a had gone wild hog loaning its Ita goo good goodmoney d I money not only in Europe but t to o Latin America to a grand total of nearly c 13 billion dollars Not that in parting with this m mono mon On ey we parted with tw god wb h we I later needed tor for our owe wn IVD economic salvation Jt at u f the same me sort lort of cockeyed that blames iton it iton Iton on iii tb iii aftermath of the war Actu- Actu u tUf to the me chief economic aftermath et t the war was wal debt and we owed the debt to ourselves So the money spent on paying interest on this debt and in retiring part of the p principal during during the Andrew Mellon Mel Melon I lon Ion regime was regime was paid to b our own c citizens and either spent here bere for goods or invested In enterprises which tended to produce employ ment meat Actually America Was Wat Loaning Goods Not Money honey No the real trouble of the huge buge loans hick in the twenties was that we were actually loaning goods good not money and in n producing such a volume of goods so that we could meet our own needs and the ordinary ordinary nary demand for tor exports and in a addition ship these billions of dollars dol lars tars worth of ot goods which in a way we were selling on credit we ran into nto difficulties What happened was that every tine line of activity that was producing for the export trade was expanded beyond any sensible rhyme or reason True we were using up our own savings sautes to finance these exports That is 1 what it amounted to But Dut Buthis t this his alone would not have bave been se rious riou If we had bad a sane system of production and distribution exporting export ing only what other nations could afford atford af at ford to pay for tor and we could afford to take payment for by buying their goods the mere loss of our savings would affect only the Individuals stung along with the sour bonds Actual Actual- Actually ly Jy that tha t loss so far tar as 81 totals are concerned would not have been tragic though of ot course it would have seemed so to many of 01 the In In- In his acceptance speech in 1932 Franklin D. D Roosevelt inquired what had happened to the profits the corporations cor con made during the good goodyears years Some of them he said went to additions to plants now standing stark and idle They were standing stark and idle because they had been built to produce pro duce exports export tor for people who would never pay for tor them When we stopped the Ule loans loans because because of tar Jar clamor after atter a 11 few tew defaults we defaults we stopped the exports That closed down the Ule factories produced a vicious vi vi- vi vicious cious circle Unemployed cannot buy So the factories which had been supplying the workers who had been producing for export closed down And so on Changing Sentiment About Third Term for Roosevelt Not so many people expect Franklin Frank Frank- tin lin D. D Roosevelt to run for a third term as did six months or a year ago This is the almost unanimous report brought back to Washington from various parts of the country by senators and representatives This has nothing to do with whether er or these people who have changed their own predictions want Roosevelt Roosevelt Roose velt to run again or not It has haa nothing to do with whether they would like to have him In the WhiteHouse Whitehouse White WhiteHouse House for four more years It has nothing to do even with whether they favor a continuance of the New Deal policies It is merely a change of ot their honest convictions as to what Roosevelt himself Intends to do There has obviously been a decline decline decline de de- cline in popularity of some of the New Deal policies This was amply am am- ply demonstrated by the primary and election results Yet most of the returning congressmen say that lots Jots of people voted for anti anti- New Deal Democrats and even eve for Republicans who are still strong for Roosevelt Roosevelt many many who would like to see Roosevelt continue in the WhiteHouse Whitehouse White WhiteHouse House for tour four more years Whether sentiment against a third term is strong enough to beat as popular a figure as Roosevelt is a question on which there is a wide variance of opinion among the congressmen con gressmen who naturally enough have bave been listening eagerly to their constituents' constituents opinions What Wat Results Will Flow FrOIo Froth Fron Change of Opinion The importance in this change of opinion as to whether he will runor runor run runor or not lies ties in the natural results which may be expected to flow flaw from it tt Its mere consideration will show even a person unfamiliar with poll tics why a President must not say that he is s not going to run again For the logical result is Is' Is for people peo pea pie who believe firmly that the President Pres ident is not going to run to line up behind some other candidate Convinced Con vinced that the President will not be a candidate people naturally start slut figuring whom they prefer to take this place Their reasoning may be based on sheer patriotism patriotism- m- m which man other outer than Roosevelt Roosevel t would be best for the country 0 Or t it might be based entirely on selfish h interest which which man mesa other than Roosevelt in the White House would probably be best for far my pocket book perhaps as II a business ma man perhaps as a recipient of reties relief perhaps per haps as a taxpayer Or as we ascend ascend as the scale in political importance r tance ranee it would probably take a amore more personal turn fora Thus the question Quell qua w tion to any politician would b be be- be which man mesa other than Roosevelt 1 14 1 s apt to do more for far me as to consulting consulting con con- me on patronage namin naming i my political lieutenants to office omee etc The politician also would wool d weigh very carefully the odds on this thi candidate te aiding his 0 Dell Ben Service |
