"In recommending the Congress to declare War, President Wilson Joss of life of American soldiers, These are things which ought to be taken into consideration.
"It was generally agreed, and indeed stated—quotations in support of it could be furnished—at the time that this loan was given to our Continental "Allies throughout, that it was a gift by the United States of America as a sort of compensation for her late arrival upon the scene of battle. However, the bond is theirs, and, if the United States insists upon it, then we must pay.
"That burden of £38,000,000 a year will require to be shouldered by the people of this country for nearly 60 years more."
"There has been from the very beginning of these controversies a very marked difference of view in great Britain and the United States in regard to War debts," said Mr. Winston Churchill.
"We have never taken the view that the cost of shot and shell fired in the common cause can be considered morally and sentimentally, whatever it may be legally, as on exactly the same footing as ordinary commercial debts. That has always been our position.
"It was the British position more than 100 years ago, after the Battle of Waterloo, and it is certainly the standpoint from which we first approached this subject.
We said we were willing to cancel all debts owing to this country by our Allies, provided we were treated in a similar manner by those who were our creditors.
"That view did not commend itself} to the great Republic across the Atlantic and, asthe right hon. gentleman has very truly said, we received more than one insistent demand to fund our contracted debt. This being so, we were, of course, bound to comply. Whatever views may be entertained on sentiment or on policy, the right of the creditor is indisputable.
"There can be no question of the lawful right of the creditor, or that the United States are entirely within their full legal rights in taking the view they do of contractual obligations entered into with themselves. We were forced, therefore, to adopt a position different from that which our own instincts and torical traditions had naturally' suggested.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.