at moderation and that regard for
the lessons of history and of economics which can be left aside
only at the peril of the general welfare.

Very faithfully yours,

(_Signed_) OTTO H. KAHN

P.S.--That you or any one else should even for a moment attach
credence to the monstrous suggestion that capitalists fomented
America's entrance into the war because they feared that otherwise
the amounts loaned by them to the Allies might be jeopardized or
lost, is a truly distressing manifestation of the willingness of
some of our people--I trust not many--to believe evil of men simply
because they have been materially successful.

Leaving aside the cruel injustice of such an imputation, it attributes
to moneyed men a degree of stupidity and of ignorance as to their own
interests, of which they are not usually held guilty.

America loaned to the Allied nations, prior to our entrance into the
war, roughly speaking, $2,000,000,000, of which sum all but a small
fraction was loaned to England and France.

These loans were made almost entirely in the shape of bond issues which
were widely distributed amongst individuals and institutions throughout
this country. Therefore, no very large portion of the aggregate is in
the hands of any one person or institution.

To any one acquainted with financial affairs it is absolutely
inconceivable that England or France would have defaulted on the
relatively moderate amount of their foreign debt, whatever might have
been the outcome of the war, if America had not joined.

Let us grant, for argument's sake, the wildly far-fetched supposition
that in one way or another their internal debt might have become
affected; it would still be utterly inconceivable that they would have
permitted a default in their foreign debt, because it is, of course,
suicidal for any nation to jeopardize its world credit.

But let us go still a step further and assume, in defiance of all
reason, that even this totally inconceivable thing were to have
happened. It would have meant, of course, not a total and irrecoverable
loss to the holders of obligations of the Allied countries, but merely
a more or less temporary shrinkage of the value of such holdings.

_A single year's war taxation will take out of the pockets of
capitalists a great deal more than they could possibly have lost
through depreciation in value of such amount of Allied bonds or loans
as they may hold._