"A great upheaval took place in the world of finance. Credit resources were brought to the fore and nations established on a financial basis of far-reaching importance, but of a kind that had only a secondary place before. "The war has turned the United States from a debtor to a creditor nation. Formerly we owed abroad something like $4,000,000,000, about three-quarters of which sum we have bought back. Moreover, Europe now owes us about $9,000,000,000--on private account; about $2,000,000,000 in securities; in United States Government obligations over $7,000,000,000. The world is under obligations to us in interest alone of between $400,000,000 and $500,000,000 a year." After the United States took an active part in the war large credits and loans were made in behalf of other countries as the following excerpt shows: "A total appropriation of $7,000,000,000 has been made, $3,000,000,000 by the Act of April 24, 1917, and $4,000,000,000 by the Act of September 24, 1917. Under these authorizations credits have been established in favor of the governments of Great Britain, France, Italy, Russia, Belgium, and Serbia. These loans, up to January 17, 1918, are given in the following table: Loans and Balances Country Credits Agreed Loans Under-Established Upon Made Credits Great Britain $2,045,000,000 $1,985,000,000 $60,000,000 France 1,285,000,000 1,225,000,000 60,000,000 Italy 500,000,000 450,000,000 50,000,000 Russia 325,000,000 187,729,750 137,270,250 Belgium 77,400,000 75,400,000 2,000,000 Serbia 6,000,000 4,200,000 1,800,000 Totals $4,238,400,000 $3,927,329,750 $311,070,250 "On the basis of the requests being made on the Treasury, it is estimated that credits aggregating approximately $500,000,000 per month will be required to meet the urgent war needs of the foreign governments receiving advances from the United States. At this rate approximately the entire appropriation authorized by Congress will be accredited to our Allies by the close of the present fiscal year (June 30, 1918).