90

In  this  conference  took  part:
Argentina,  Belgium,  Canada,  Danemark  The  United  States,  France,  Great
Britain,  Holland,  Norway,  Sweeden  and  Switzerland,  and  a  total  amount  of
credits  which  each  state  present  could  grant  in  1920,  the  nature  of  the
goods  they  could  deliver  and  the  guarantees  to  be  demanded  were  discussed. ­
  The  general  lines  of  the  programme  to  be  realized  and  the  mode ­
  of  entrusting  its  realization  to  a  permanent  international  Committee
composed  by  delegates  of  the  States  participating  at  this  conference  were  agreed
upon.  This  international  Committee  is  called  »Comission  International  du
Relevement  du  Credit  Economique“.  The  work  of  this  committee  isa  humanitarian ­
  assistance  as,  as  long  as  war  credits  exis'ed  the  aids  received  by  the  States
were  debited  to  their  account.  After  that  assistance  was  given  for  Treasury
Bonds  and  this  Committee  had  in  view  amongst  other  tilings  the  special  bonds
which  we  were  to  give  for  the  new  bonds  creating  a  special  bond  called  ”1920
Relief  Bonds--.  What  is  more,  the  other  countries  for  which  the  State  of  war
was  at  an  end  after  the  armistice,  wished  to  consolidate  the  advances  received
from  the  armistice  to  1920  against  the  said  new  1920  Relief  Bonds--.
In  this  Comm  dee  of  Assistance  the  United  States  declined  to  take  park
urging  the  impossibility  of  granting  loans  outside  the  law  *  Liberty  Act*.  This
is  how  we  may  explain  that  Roumania  did  not  give  America  any  1920  Relief
Bonds  because  considering  that  these  advances  had  been  granted  for  a  State
of  war,  confirmed  by  the  fact  of  America’s  having  participated  in  the  conference ­
  which  had  decided  these  advances,  they  had  been  granted  in  conformity
with  her  laws  and  therefore  could  not  be  taken  out  of  the  State  Treasury
without  a  vote  of  congress  so  that  the  debt  towards  the  United  States  maintains
its  characteristic  Statute  as  it  was  sanctioned.
Consequently  Roumania  for  assistance  purposes  received  the  following
sums,  of  which  a  great  part  was  spent  for  helping  and  bringing  home  the
prisoner  s.
From  England  £  2.195.822.  —5.—10
From  Australia  £  1.118.754.—11.—7
From  France  fr.  445.804,98
From  Danemark  danish  cr.  132.387
From  Norway  Norv.  cr.  48.013,
and  £.  237.713
From  Sweeden  Sw.  cr.  8.757.997
From  Switzerland  Sw.  fr.  14.251285
These  relief  bonds  therefore  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  debt  which  repreents
  the  countervalue  of  the  assistance  given  by  Americafrom  1918  to  1920
which  was  a  war  debt  as  we  showed  higher  up,  and  the  Relief  Bonds  to  America ­
  have  remaind  what  they  were  at  the  moment  when  the  debt  was  contracted
namely  a  debt  under  the  liberty  act,  and  a  debt  under  the  convention  of  July  9 th ,
1918,  for  selling  the  surplus  of  war  materiel,  that  is,  the  same  kind  of  debt  as