If Great Britain could not find the money with which to purchase these supplies, it is quite apparent that they could not be shipped.

The collapse of British credit therefore would have produced the isolation of the British Isles and led to a British surrender, just as effectively as would the success of the German submarine campaign.
As soon as Bernstorff was sent home, therefore, and the participation of this country in the war became extremely probable, Mr.Balfour took up the financial question with Page.
_To the President_ March 5, 1917.
The inquiries which I have made here about financial conditions disclose an international situation which is most alarming to the financial and industrial outlook of the United States.

England has not only to pay her own war bills, but is obliged to finance her Allies as well.

Up to the present time she has done these tasks out of her own capital.

But she cannot continue her present extensive purchases in the United States without shipping gold as payment for them, and there are two reasons why she cannot make large shipments of gold.