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Show . ww ysi 1 Jf BRITISH GOLD TO WIN. Henry Clews In his weekly review"! 48 of the financial world comments on U the skill of the British financiers and a says : ' "Thus far Great Britain has stood I the strain far better than any other nation, and while it is possible that sterling may sell at still lower figures, fig-ures, there are as yet no signs of weakness in Britain's ability to finance fi-nance both, herself and her allies until the end of the war. The exhibition ex-hibition of strength and skill which British finance is making is remarkable, remark-able, and far exceeds all expectations; expecta-tions; nothing like it having ever been witnessed in history Thus far the national debt of Great Britain has increased about $4,000,000,000, and has more than doubled in amount since the war began. Mr. Asqulth notified his fellow -countrymen the other dav that the war. which has been costing about $13.O00.0OO a day. including about $1,000,000,000 ad-tranced ad-tranced 10 her allies, will soon cost over $15,000,000, or at the rate ol ,.arlv .rmii.iiHH annually. Such waste is staggering. When it is re-mi re-mi inhered thnt the. war Is costing Other nations proportionately as much as Great Britain, and more where cities and districts are wiped out, this devastation seems utterly beyond human comprehension. It would seem as if exhaustion alone must quickly end such a tcrrilie cataclysm Yet, it would be premature prema-ture to calculate upon any such result re-sult at an early date, for the struggle strug-gle may last another year unless a military miracle of some sort hastens has-tens the end. It must be borne In mind that the resources and population popu-lation and wealth of the principal belligerents have been enormously augmented sinco the last great war. and it is doubtful if the per capita cost of this war to the taxpayer is any greater than the Napoleonic w;ir which ended with the battle of Waterloo. Wa-terloo. In the case of Great Britain, it Is calculated that her national Income In-come Is about $10,000,000,000 annually annual-ly o that with her vast investments abroad valued at $20,000,0"". an I her foreign trade of nearly $.0ou,-mi. $.0ou,-mi. 1 000 annually, it Is quite evident that thus far Britain's financial resources re-sources are far from being seriously strained. This cannot be said of jomo of the other contestant-, and if the war is to be one of exhaustion, which Beems quite probable, these are factors which will play an important and perhaps a decisive part. American imports have declined materially, our exports have Increased In-creased enormous- :;. . m-aling a fabulous fabul-ous excess In the latter of about one billion dollars during the closing fiscal fis-cal year. 'Our enormous nold supply must eventually have a pronounced infla-tionarv infla-tionarv effect upon values in this country. Credil Is already remark' ablv cheap to good borrowers. Our banking position is exceptionally sound, and under the new Federal Reserve system we are in an excellent excel-lent position to lend freely, there being be-ing no reason whatever why we should not extend liberal credits to Europe if necessary." |