CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS 121
tion of income in the United States, its inequality between classes or
geographical sections, its possible disturbance and readjustment
under new conditions. Any changes in the direction of consump-
tion may have effects not only on the direction of production but
on the distribution of income also. This problem involves reason-
ing which is in part similar to that on international trade, but leads
to nothing inconsistent with its conclusions or serving to modify
the essentials of the conclusions.
A somewhat special case is that of gifts or charitable contribu-
tions. It is like that of a tribute, and also unlike. As with a
tribute, nothing in the way of commodities or services is received
by the country which makes the payments : there is no quid pro quo.
But they are made voluntarily, not under compulsion. Very heavy
remittances of this sort were made from the United States to foreign
countries during the last generation, say from 1895 to the present
time (1925); some details will be considered in a later chapter.
Such operations affect the course of international trade in com-
modities — the exports and imports of goods — in the same way as
tributes or travellers’ expenditures. Their tendency is to bring
about an excess of merchandise exports, a “favorable” balance of
trade, lowered money incomes and domestic prices in the remitting
country, higher incomes and prices in the receiving country. They
lead also to barter terms of trade less favorable to the remitting
country. The people of that country not only export gratis the
tangible goods which serve to meet the charitable remittances;
they lose also thru the circumstance that they get less imported
goods in exchange for the exports which are the commercial items
in the account. The remittances thus may be said to cost the
donors more than they reckoned on, more than they are aware of.
But the contributions continue to flow, even tho the people who
make them find that their money incomes tend to fall, while
imported goods tend to rise in price. They have the satisfaction,
approved by the moralist, of doing a merciful deed; and that
satisfaction is not dimmed because the doing entails more of
material curtailment than was resolved on at the start. On the
1 Chapter 24, p. 294: Chapter 25. p. 329.
