164 A REVISION OF THE TREATY chap.

an equilibrium position can be reached on the basisof her exporting at least as much as at present, andat the same time restricting her imports by a tariff.Just as the Allies demand vast payments fromGermany , and then exercise their ingenuity to preventher paying them, so the American Administrationdevises, with one hand, schemes for financing exports,and, with the other, tariffs which will make it asdifficult as possible for such credits to be repaid.Great nations can often act with a degree of follywhich we should not excuse in an individual.

By the shipment to the United States of all thebullion in the world, and the erection there of a sky-scraping golden calf, a short postponement may begained. But a point may even come when theUnited States will refuse gold, yet still demand to bepaid—a new Midas vainly asking more succulentfare than the barren metal of her own contract.

In any case the readjustment will be severe, andinjurious to important interests. If, in addition, theUnited States exacts payment of the Allied debts,the position will be intolerable. If she perseveredto the bitter end, scrapped her export industries anddiverted to other uses the capital now employed inthem, and if her former European associates decidedto meet their obligations at whatever cost to them-selves, I do not deny that the final result might beto America 's material interest. But the project isutterly chimerical. It will not happen. Nothing is