ECONOMIC DELIRIUM TREMENS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 284, 27 August 1919, Page 8

ECONOMIC DELIRIUM TREMENS

MR. HOOVER ON AN IMPOSSIBLE . SITUATION , EUROPE LIVING WITHOUT WORKING Mr. Herbert C. Hoover, chairman of the Inter-Allied Food Commission, was recently asked for a statement as to the financial requirements of Europe from the United States during the next year, he said:— "Any statement is premised upon peace and the return of Europe to work. I do not take it we will finance any more wars in Europe, directly or indirectly, nor that wo will provide money to enable the people of Europe to live without work, or to work part time, as at present all over Europe. This sort of economic delirium tremens will end witU peace. ~ "The amount of credits from the Umt> ed States to Europe during the year after peace revolves around Hie inability ot tne nations to pay for (a) raw material, machinery, and tools; (b) food; (c) currency reorganisation, and <d) interest on money borrowed from our Government. "The volume of financial assistance needed and the solution thereior vanes with the situation in each State, jxeutral Stages'are flourishing and need cause no concern.' Eumania, Greater Serbia, Bulgaria. Arabia, Turkey, escenc Armenia; Portugal, Greece, and Hungary will be virtually self-supporting. In fact some of them should be able to exDorf. food, and with other commodities they can export they can pretty well provide for all their necessities except peihaps railway reconstruction material, agricultural implements, and reorganisation. These States represent nearlv one-third of the population ofE 'To 1 land and the Baltic States will produce almost enough bread, grains an vegetables for their own people, but will be .short of fate. If they,seaure resources for currency reorganisation, • anfl some working capital fov raw imports, so as to get exports going, they should, with economy, be self-supporting within'a very few months. "Czecho-Slovakia, Belgium, and 1 inland have a larger import problem, for thev always require breadstufts, meats, and fats throughout the year to supplement their own production, rhesa people are already moving energetically to eet their industries going, even under the terrible difficulties presented by the armistice situation. They, must have workin* capital to reorganise their ouirencies. provide raw material, and mee, tho food problem for a whue. "The economic problems of most or thei States are simple -hen compared with the larger European nat»£, utt the world will -be astonished with their recovery if they have peace. "[ feel that something liko halt a billion dollars' assistance from the American Government may be needed to foi with the other Allies in the reorgansntion of the currencies of the new Slites and to take care of some partieubfly acute and otherwise unsolvablc Eil^n o tho,other hand, much larger sums j will be required fiom private cmlit foi | raw material and food, and in order to Mcure.that the private crediitstoGovernments, and especially to liidiuduais, should be established our Government would probably need to consider borne further measures of encouragement in s direction. The credit of lutein- j di.vWi.nle and firms of even the most, "•rV&a State* of Europe is still worli something, and what is needed is to ieestatblish confidence in euoli cred U. In th> matter tho Government could by! different devices, lend its assistance with, comparatively little risk. In any even j son-o solution must be found, or we will | swain be faced with starvation in some parts of Europe, on a lesser scale next spring when the forthcoming hajvest » "Wo may hjive soine further political revolutions in Europe, became thesocia nendulum has not reached the point ot itability in some spots, but in my view the great danger of the. Red Terror and tetrcctiou- by Bolshevism has been Kreally mitigated aixl will have actually passed in some countries on the signing of peace. . ... "H wo undertake to give credits nje should undertake it-in a definite, organised manner. ' We should have consolidated organised control of the assistance ] we give, in such a way that it should be ] lusnd only if economy in imports ib main- j tainod and if tho definite rehabilitation of industry] is undertaken—if. the people ] return to work, if orderly, government is preserved, fighting is stopped, disarmament is. undertaken, and there is no diecrimination against the United States m favour of other'countries. ' "If these things are done, the matter will be of nothing like such enormous figures as wo have been handling durinir the war, and generally I look npo-i the third stage of our intervention in the assistance of Europe as less difficult and less expensive than the two previous stages. "]f these things are not done, Europe will starve in epite of all we can do. Tl.ia surplus of our productivity could not support a Europe of to-day's idleness if every loan of ua worked fifteen hours daily."