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EUROPE AND THE UNITED ST:\TES279matter here. ancl I am well a\vareoi the dilficulties ancl delicate natureof the pro'blen-r.Nou, I u-or,rlr1 be bold to sa,r' tl'ratpublic opinion in America undervaluesrepercussions oi the problemof interallied debts, n'hile perhapslir-rropean public opinion tends tomahe them responsible ior consequencesof all sorts. Hou'ever thismav be, it is certain that in Europeinterallied debts have a depressingeffect rvhich goes f ar be1'ond theamorrnts involved, entailing econo*mic as r'r'eli as ps1'chologicai reactions.Resistance to CrisesHE rvave of economic clepressionthe n,orirl over has notyet subsided : \\,e are stil1 strugglingto find a lvav out of the present abnormalsituation, ancl this makes itl,alticularl r',lifflcrrlr ior us to fortua general ar.rcl clefinite opinion on t1-relesistance oi the i arious ecortorrricsvstelrrs to,lepression.Later studies r,vill celtainll throlvsome light on this f ar-reachingproblen-r. At the present stage, andlvithin the limits of these notes, Ican only sar- that the spread of theclepression to all countries, bothrich ancl poor, agricultural ancl irrrlustrial,creditor and debtor, is afurther proof of the interdependenceu'hich binds all the markets ofthe ',r'orld into one structure, superimposingitself upon racial, politicalancl even geographical divisions.M a r k e t Interdependence,With Special Reference tothe European and AmericanMarkets.\rlerica'. t','onomic stn-rcturehas been profounclll' moclifiecl duringthe first thirty years of the presentcenturl, ancl the reactions dueto these char-rges have been felt notonly in the economic but also in thesocial field. There u'as a time rvhentlre L'nited States practicall;' exporterlonl-r' rau rnaterials and fooilstuffs,a conclition resulting in astrong sense of economic indepen-dence. At the present tin-re theUnited States import enormousquantities of rau' materials for theirindustries and f oodstuffs f or theneecls of their population; on theother I'rand, thev ale under the necessitvof irnding an outlet for theirinclustrial production, a tasl< ir-rcreasingl,vclifficuit in a n,orld inuhich national indr-rstrialization issteaclily developing. The upshot ofali this is the creation o{ an evergreater clegree of international interdepenclence,rvhich finds an eloquentexpression in tlre hgures ofthe .\rrrerican halance of pa_vments.Dealings rvith foreign countries ingoods,. services, and capital are no\venteled both on the credit and debitsicles of that balance sheet for theenorrnoris total of nearly $10.000,-000,000.The self -sufficiency of othertimes u'as not the least of the causesu-hich 1ed the Lrnitecl States to takep|acticall_\' no inl.eresl in crtslorttspolicies and in foreign politics. Butas the character of their foreigntr-ade gradually c6ntt*"6 the interestof tl.re Anierican people in allmatters affecting export narltetsancl sources of suppl1, has becomeer.er keener ancl nou, prevails, atleast in practice, over the formericleals of economic and political isolation.The vague rlislrust of grou -irg international relations i,l hichstill exists in large spheres of Americanpublic opinion vainiy triesto l,r'ithstand the gror,vth of a generalpolicv more in keeping rvith thefunctions of a great u,orld pou,erand rvith the privileges and responsibilitiesattaclred thereto. No resistancecan indeed prevent the application,in due course of time, ofthe great historic 1au' by rvhichsteacll' economic and scientilic progressinevitably leads to the growinginterdependence of the severalmarl