7 2

ESSAYS IN PERSUASION

PART

out at a total of £61,000,000). If we add tothis the direct American share in GermanReparations, the United States will be receiving£78,000,000 annually out of the £117,000,000receivable by the Allies from Germany , or67 per cent, plus £ 10,000,000 from Italy notcovered by Reparations; or if we take theaverage payments, in lieu of the maximum,the United States will be receiving £66,000,000out of £117,000,000 or 57 per cent. Ineither case Great Britain would receive, onbalance, nothing.

It follows from the above that if the maxi-mum Dawes Annuities were to be reduced byone-third—which, in the opinion of many ofus, is highly probable—the United States will, by the time that the Allied payments toher have reached their full figure, be the solebeneficiary. In this event the net result ofall War Debt settlements would be to leavethe United States —on balance and off-settingreceipts against payments — receiving fromGermany £78,000,000 per annum, and noone else getting anything.

I have put the calculation in this form becauseit renders it very clear why, in the minds of theAllies, the question of further relief to Ger-many is intimately bound up with the questionof their own obligations to the United States .The official American attitude that there is noconnection between the two, is a very hollowpretence. The resettlement of the DawesScheme is one to which the United States must