WAR DEBTS.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20523, 16 April 1932, Page 15

WAR DEBTS.

} CANCELLATION SCHEME CRITICISED. OPINION IN AMERICA. (CNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION —BY ELSr.TaIO TELEGRAPH— COP VBIGHT.) (Received April 15th, 7.10 p.m.) NEW YORK, April 14. The war debt proposal of Mr A 1 Smith has resulted in considerable reaction in the Press. A leading article in the "New York Suu" suggests that a potential economic important proposal at tho Imperial Conference at Ottawa is likely to grant to Australia and Canada the ricE privilege of selling to England most of the wheat needed. As matters stand, the American grower will be undersold in tho British markets, but would he bo beaten if an export subsidy such as Mr Smith suggests lowered the price to England by '25 per cent, without reducing the American farmers' return ? The newspaper outlines the various amounts of reduction accruable tor the largest debtors., indicating that Mr Smith apparently had studied the question from a view of previous trade reports and considered them fair. The "New York Times,'' without accepting the proposal outright, says the proposal may prove to have an ultimate value, but tho great immediate value is the blunt assertion that we have been dealing with the question in a way that is bad for ourselves as well as tho for the rest op tho world. The "New York Herald-Tribune" characterises tho proposal as exceedingly difficult to defend from any economic angle. However, it commends Mr Smith's courage in discussing the issue so candidly and suggests that it might be an ingenious political device to make the cancellation of war debts palatable to American voters at the New York conference.

Addressing a group of Democratic leaders at the annual Jefferson Day dinner, Mr-Al Smith (who, it is anticipated, will be a candidate lor the United States Presidency), proposed a modified scheme for the cancellation of war debts. "Let ns say to the nations of Enrope, who owe us money," lie said, "that we will not forget about it for twenty years, and not only will wo do that, but we will write off as paid each year 25 per cent, of the gross value of the American products which, they buy from us. "Thus, in effect, if a nation purchases 100,000,000 dollars' worth of our cotton we will forget about 20,000,000 dollars of its indebtedness, and the same for wheat, fruit, tobacco, or any of our manufactured products."