The Press Tuesday, June 14, 1932. Lausanne.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20572, 14 June 1932, Page 8

The Press Tuesday, June 14, 1932. Lausanne.

The marked revival of optimism during the last week over the prospects of the Reparations Conference, which opens at Lausanne on Thursday, may seem curious in view of the fact that, since the Conference was first announced, the outward trend of events has been consistently unfavourable. The first blow was the refusal of the United (States to participate owing to the partial failure of the Hoover Moratorium and the fear of the American people, intensified by the financial difficulties of their Government, that Lausanne would see the beginning of a drive for the cancellation of war debts. With a Presidential election in the offing, Mr Hoover has found it prudent to turn his back on Europe for the time being. Even more discouraging was the complete failure of the FourPower Conference held in London in .April to devise means of averting financial collapse in the Danubian States. Although the problem was desperately urgent and a solution, in terms of economics, not hard to find, jealousy between France and Germany led to a deadlock. It had been hoped that the Conference would smooth out the approach to Lausanne; instead, it seemed to emphasise the hopelessness of expecting economic necessity to check national rivalries. The possibility of France and Germany recon- [ ciling their differences in the few weeks that remained before Lausanne was, it appeared, finally removed by the victory of the Nazis in the Prussian elections and the supplanting of Dr. Bruening's Ministry by what looks suspiciously like a military dictatorship. In these circumstances Mr Chamberlain's statement, reported in yesterday's cable news, that " there is to-day in " Europe a greater approach to unani"mity as to the cause of our troubles " and the steps necessary to solve our "problems than at any time since the "War" seems, to say the least, optimistic. What justifies Mr Chamberlain's optimism is the fact that since the Four-Power Conference France and Britain have made a determined effort to reach a common policy in international affairs. Previously the obstacle in the way of such an agreement has been the anxiety of British Governments, supported, probably, by British public opinion, for a cancellation of war debts and reparations. This attitude is based primarily on the belief that reparations' and war debts are largely responsible for the breakdown of the gold standard and the deflation of world prices, but it is not entirely disinterested. Britain's interest in Germany is an investor's interest, and reparations payments are an insignificant factor in her national finances. France, on the other hand, has lent sparingly to Germany and the security of her investments is a minor consideration beside her £55,000,000 share of the unconditional annuities payable under the Young Plan. In the last few months British public opinion has been more tolerant of the French point of view,' and it is 'significant that Sir Arthur Salter, who was a member of the Reparations Commission, has recently argued that cancellation is neither practicable nor desirable. At the same time France "has begun to realise that Germany cannot continue payments on the present scale. It was reported last month th&t M. Tardieu was willing to suspend payments for a period of years, provided that the principle of reparations was maintained and M. Herriot is not likely to be less conciliatory. If the French Government is committed to such a policy, and if the new German Government is sincere in its announcement that it will | not depart from the foreign policy laid down by Dr. Bruening, the/Lausanne Conference should at least be able to remove the immediate danger of a financial and political catastrophe in Germany.