Lord D'Abernon, whose experience goes back beyond his years with
the Ottoman pank and has been kept up to- date by work done for Great Britain in Berlin and South America, has given us his views with great sus- Pieion" of hasty conclusions based upon a superficial examination of trade figures. He says :- " The terms favourable' and ' unfavourable' as applied to the balance of trade, are - complete misnomers. The richest countries at the time of their greatest prosperity have had a most unfavour- able balance ; the poorest countries at the time of greatest distress have had the most favourable. In so far as the present position stands in need of rectification, this would best be ,done with advantage by increasing the means of payment available to our potential purchasers. If they were better supplied with the necessary currency for. the purchase .of commodities,- the position would soon come right. As creditors, America, France .and England have been unwise in making it impossible for those who owe money to pay, while our action as manufacturers in need of markets has hardly been more intelligent. We have done little to strengthen the purchasing power of our greatest potential customers, South America, India and China."
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