Speech #690080839

In other words. it would be a settlement of the British debt on the basis of about 80 per cent. I have not heard any serious criticism of that. If that settlement was based upon ability to pay. as I understand it was. when we recall that Italy has no natural resources outside of her labor and hr water power and her silk. no copper or iron. a territory half as large as France. and a population equal to that of France. or thereabouts. and when we recall that we have cut off by our legislation the revenue from immigration. which heretofore was such a lucrative Item. it would seem to me that if there was justice in the British settlement there is justice in this Italian settlement. That is -the way In which I look at it. and I am one who does not want to sbe any cancellation of the dcbt. I understand that the plan is to collect the principal in full. with 41/2 per cent interest on the principal up to 1922-