"One of the war's chief effects on us will be to change our point of
view. Europe will be more vivid to us from now on. There are many public
men who have never thought much about Europe, and who have been far from
a realization of its actual importance to us. It has been a place to
which to go for a Summer holiday.
"But, suddenly, they find they cannot sell their cotton there or their
copper, that they cannot market their stocks and bonds there, that they
cannot send money to their families who are traveling there, because
there is a war. To such men the war must have made it apparent that
interdependence among nations is more than a mere phrase.
"All our trade and all our economic and social policies must recognize
this. The world has discovered that cash without credit means little.
One cannot use cash if one cannot use one's credit to draw it whenever
and wherever needed. Credit is intangible and volatile, and may be
destroyed over night.
"I saw this in Venice.
"On July 31 I could have drawn every cent that my letter of credit
called for up to the time the banks closed. At 10 in the morning on the
1st of August I could not draw the value of a postage stamp.
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