OCR Text |
Show Italy's Wax Debt To The United States Italy's original war debt to us was $1,648,000,000. This was for cash loans, $017,000,000 of which was made after the Armistice. Settlement Set-tlement of tills obligation was effected ef-fected on a debt funding agreement agree-ment signed November 14, 1923. The amount of the debt so funded! Including interest on the principal amount to December 15, 1922, at 4V4 per cent and from then 'until June 15, 1925, at 3 per cent, after allowing for a small cash pay men ' was $2,042,000,000. The Italian Debt Commission had presented a number of documents docu-ments to show that Italy's economic econ-omic and financial condition was such that special terms would be necessary to enable that country to meet its obligation to the United States. Italy's representations were carefully checked against reports and studies made by economists and statisticians of this country and were found substantially correct. cor-rect. The settlement agreement provided pro-vided that the $2,042,000,000 should be paid over a period of sixty-two years, the period allowed Great Britain and other debtor countries, and on the following terms: First five years $5,000,000 annually without with-out interest, the balance of the payments to be spread over the remaining years. After the first five years, interest is to be paid at the rate of one-eighth of 1 per cent for ten years, increasing for ; each successive ten-year period , one-fourth of 1 per cent, one-half of 1 per cent, three-fourths of 1 per cent, 1 per cent and 2 per cent during the last seven years. The total amount to be paid by Italy 1 over the whole sixty-two-year per- ' iod is $2,407,000,000. 1 The rate of interest charged i Italy is about two-fifths of 1 per i cent, while the American Govern- ment pays Hi and per cent to the holders of the bonds which were sold to loan Italy $1,648,000,- 000. Despite these liberal terms Italy, through Premier Mussolini, was the. first country to pronounce officially for cancellation of reparations and debts. He suggests that European debtors present a "united front" to us but prefaced his remarks with the statement that Europe must act first in cancelling the German reparations. A well known publicist who recently re-cently wrote a series of articles for the New York Evening Post tending tend-ing to show Europe's economic condition, said of Italy, among other things: "Only one in every forty-six Italians is unemployed. The average aver-age Italian is eating more and better bet-ter food today than he has ever eaten in history. Beggars have disappeared. dis-appeared. The currency is stable and the public knows it. Industry is stagnant but working short hours and keeping the vast majority major-ity of labor employed. Agriculture is half a billion dollars richer from a bumper crop. Spirit is high." "This is a record of facts put down without reference to politics." poli-tics." "If one had a choice of a country coun-try to live in during an economic crisis that country would be Italy." "An Italian need never produce more than 75 per cent as much as a German in order to live at the same standard. The Italian needs half as much clothing, and a tenth the fuel." "Out of 1,000 potential workers, reckoning one-third of the population popula-tion as capable of employment. Italy has 64 unemployed, compared with 275 out of 1,000 in Germany, 207 in the United States. 186 in England, 140 in Austria, 120 in Czecho-Slovakia, 110 in Japan, 70 In Spain, and of all the larger powers in Europe only France has a figure that is approximately as - low as that of Italy." Whether the writer of the above excerpts has correctly reported the economic conditions of Italy can not be stated. It has been over two months since they have been published pub-lished and we have seen no denial of them. It is plain that if Italy's debts are cancelled the American taxpayers tax-payers will have to foot the bill. |