i THE TREATY OF PEACE 31
The first is for the entire cancellation ofInter-Ally indebtedness (that is to say, in-debtedness between the Governments of theAllied and Associated countries) incurred forthe purposes of the war. This proposal,which has been put forward already in certainquarters, is one which I believe to be absolutelyessential to the future prosperity of the world.It would be an act of far-seeing statesmanshipfor the United Kingdom and the UnitedStates , the two Powers chiefly concerned, toadopt it. The sums of money which are in-volved are shown approximately in the follow-ing table: 1
Loans to
Total.
United
£
£
£
£
842,000,000
842,000,000
550,000,000
508,000,000
1,058,000,000
325,000,000
467,000,000
■X {,000,000
827,000,000
38,000,000
568,000,000
160,000,000
766,000,000
Belgium
Serbia and
80,000,000
98,000,000
90,000,000'
268,000,000
Jugo-Slavia
20,000,000
20,000,000
20,000,000
60,000,000
Other Allies
35,000,000
79,000,000
50,000,000
164,000,000
Total
1,900,000,000
1,740,000,000
355,000,000
3,995,000,000
Thus the total volume of Inter-Ally in-debtedness, assuming that loans from one Allyare not set off against loans to another, isnearly £4,000,000,000. The United States is a lender only. The United Kingdom has
1 The figures in this table are partly estimated, and areprobably not completely accurate in detail.