FOOTNOTES:
1 Figures are averages for the decade 1900-1909, not 1901-1910.
2 The figures of the table, quoted from Lloyd’s Register in Report U.S. Department of Commerce, 1920, p. 170, differ slightly from U.S. official figures. It should be noted that the gross tonnage of American vessels employed in foreign trade was very much less: 1.0 million in 1914, 9.9 million in 1920, according to official figures.
3 I do not pretend to recognize technical distinctions in this elementary exposition.
4 Figures of gold movement for 1917 and 1918 are unofficial; figure for 1919 is lacking.
5 In July, 1917, and thereafter the accounts included merchandise imported and exported in public as well as private ownership, except exports for the use of British troops in the field. Before July, 1917, the figures of exports included property of the allied governments, but omitted a large part of that of the British government; figures of imports omitted property both of the British and of allied governments, except that they included all articles of food. Some idea of the divergence of the figures from the facts may be got by comparing the American statistics of exports from the United States to the United Kingdom with British statistics for the same calendar year of imports from the United States.
| American figures $ millions |
British figures £ millions |
|
|---|---|---|
| 1913 | 591 | 142 |
| 1914 | 600 | 139 |
| 1915 | 1,198 | 238 |
| 1916 | 1,887 | 292 |
| 1917 | 2,009 | 376 |
| 1918 | 2,061 | 515 |
| 1919 | 2,279 | 542 |
Normally the British figures of imports, c.i.f., would exceed the American figures of exports, f.o.b., as they did in 1913. The divergence in the opposite direction of the two sets of figures in following years is sufficiently striking even if the pound sterling is rated at $5.
6 War loans on the books of the British government stood as follows, 1920, (figures in million pounds sterling):
| To dominions and colonies | 120 |
| To France | 515 |
| To Russia | 568 |
| To Italy | 457 |
| To Belgium | 99 |
| To other allied governments | 85 |
| 1,844 |
7 In 1915 Egypt was changed in the British classification from the position of foreign country to that of British Possession. Imports from Egypt were in 1913 £16,000,000 and increased rapidly toward the end of the war, to £5,000,000 in 1918.
8 These figures of exports omitted, before July, 1917, most British government property, and even after that date government supplies for British troops in the field. The inclusion of these items would make even more impressive the concentration in France of the flow of goods from England.
9 The franc, nominally worth $.193, declined rapidly in purchasing power in the course of the war, but was kept close to par in foreign exchange by the action of the allied governments in “pegging” the exchange. When the government ceased to control the rate, in the Spring of 1919, it fell sharply; it was below $.10 in Dec., 1919, was below $.06 in Dec. 1920, and then made a recovery.
10 The table is taken from Report of Comptroller of the Currency, 1920, vol. 1, p. 14, a convenient source because both merchandise and specie are enumerated by calendar, not fiscal year. I have corrected the table by reducing by 1 milliard the figure for exports in 1914, to accord with verified commercial statistics, and have altered the figures of excess of exports in 1914, and for total exports and total excess to accord with this correction. The student who checks the figures by reference to U. S. Statistical Abstract, 1920, p. 773, should not be dismayed by finding there the exports for 1915 listed at 2,555 millions; it is another example of a milliard dollar error.
11 Calendar years; 1914-1918 fiscal years ending June 30.
12 I have adapted the figures from the report of George Paish to the National Monetary Commission, 61st Congress, 2d session, Senate Document No. 579, pp. 153-213.
13 Figures of total tonnage include gas vessels, canal boats and barges, not separately enumerated in the table.