Mr. Chamberlain referred in a second speech, on Friday, February
4th, to our foreign loans. He said that he wanted the Allied and Associated Governments to wipe out their inter- national debts when the war ended. " We made such proposals, but they were not acceptable to the Government of the United States. To make them again would, I think, be beneath our dignity, and would render us liable to misconception of our motives in making them." Mr. Chamberlain stated that the Cabinet would have remitted debts, owing to Great Britain by the Allies, that were larger than Great Britain's debts to America. We had supposed that this was well known. Mr. Chamberlain's statement seems, however, to have occasioned surprise in America. The fact is, of course, that America, in lending money to the Allies, insisted on lending it through us and obtaining our guarantee. We owe America £887,000,000, and the Allies, apart from the Russian loan of £568,000,000, owe us E1,163,000,000. U these loans were all cancelled, international trade would assuredly benefit.
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