Report of National City Bank of New York City: Nearly Ten Times Pre-War Amount Debts of ihe nations of the world are now nearly 10 times what they were before the war, according to a compilation made by Mr. O. P. Austin, statistician of the National City Bank of New York His figures, covering 100 of th2 principal coufitries and colonies of the world, indicate that these national debts grew from little more than 43 billion dollars in 1913 to 25 billion in 1918, at the end of the war; to 285 billions in 1919, and to 382 billion this year, according to the latest figures available. This indicates, he says, that the total national indebtedness of the world, at the close of 1921, will approximate and perhaps exceed 400! billion dollars, against 43 billions in 1913, The disconcerting fact about these figures is the way they have continued to grow in most countries for the three years since the war. The United States is one of few where this growth has not continued. We have reduced our debt by more than $1,000,000,000 in the last two years, On the other hand Germany's debt has gone up from 48} billion dollars in 1919 to 71 billion dollars, according to the latest figures. This is reckoned at the normal rate of exchange for the mark of approximately 23} cents, and such a continued increase certainly gives cause for grave doubt as to Germany's ability to pay her national debts, as well as her currency issues, which are not included in this total at the former gold value of the mark. Below are given the figures in millions of dollars showing the growth of the debts of the leading nations of the world since 1913:—
1913. 1918, 1919 1921, Argentina 732 866 576 758 Austria 2,152 15,807 16,910 15,834 Belgium 722—1,902 4,670 Braail 664 1,145 1.133 969 Canada 485 1,863 2,250 2,545 Chile 210 228 231 France 6,346 30,400 40,000 51,000 Germany 1,194 39,200 48,552 71, C00 Hungary 1,731 8,514 9,412 14,206 Thaly 2.921 12,000 15.102 18,650 Japan 1,242 1,246 1,300 1,715 Spain 1,814 1,661 1,986 2,335! United Kingdom 3,486 28,613 36,401 37,910 United States 1,029 17,005 25.234 23,322
The growth of these debts is merely the evidence that a war does not stop when the guns cease firing. A modern war is a process of destruction of which the purely; military activities are only one} part. To turn from destructive to} constructive effort is a slow and difficulty task. To make this change in a world interdependent econo-tically needs ce-operation. These{ increasing debts are one evidence} that the needed amount of codpera-} tion has not been in force. It was the full realization of this that led ona of the foreign delegates to the} conference in Washington to say'
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.