258 THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF THE PEACE ch.

argument for Americans , but only to show that fromhis own selfish point of view an Englishman is notseeking to avoid due sacrifice on his country'spart in making the present suggestion. (1) Thesums which the British Treasury borrowed from theAmerican Treasury , after the latter came into thewar, were approximately offset by the sums whichEngland lent to her other Allies during the sameperiod [i.e. excluding sums lent before the UnitedStates came into the war); so that almost the wholeof England's indebtedness to the United States wasincurred, not on her own account, but to enable herto assist the rest of her Allies, who were for variousreasons not in a position to draw their assistancefrom the United States direct. 1 (2) The UnitedKingdom'has disposed of about £1,000,000,000worth of her foreign securities, and in addition hasincurred foreign debt to the amount of about

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£1,200,000,000. The United States, so far fromselling, has bought back upwards of £1,000,000,000,and has incurred practically no foreign debt. (3) Thepopulation of the United Kingdom is about one-halfthat of the United States, the income about one-third, and the accumulated wealth between one-halfand one-third. The financial capacity of the UnitedKingdom may therefore be put at about two-fifthsthat of the United States. This figure enables us to

1 Even after the United States came into the war the bulk of Russianexpenditure in the United States, as well as the whole of that Government'sother foreign expenditure, had to be paid for by the British Treasury.