Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 1933. "THOSE IRREPRESSIBLE DEBTS"

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 120, 24 May 1933, Page 8

Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 1933. "THOSE IRREPRESSIBLE DEBTS"

The full text of . President Roosevelt* historic appeal to the "Kings, potentates, and Presidents" of the fifty-four nations to be represented at the World Economic Conference, which was published on Monday, the striking speech .addressed to the Disarmament Conference by Mr. Norman ' Davis, the United States delegate, which was reported yesterday, and the further particulars of thai, speech and the comments thereon which are reported today combine to show lliat America is not faltering in the lead which she has given to the world under her new President but con- < tinues to enlarge her outlook and |her readiness for new responsibilities. There was, however, an unI pleasant reminder from Washington 1 yesterday that the nut which the Roosevelt-MacDonald conversations left uncracked has not been cracked yet; that a problem upon the solution of which, as both parties are agreed, the success of the World Economic Conference is completely dependent, is still unsolved; and that the obduracy of an American authority less capable of Ibroad views than the President may perhaps wreck all his hopes. The Economic Conference meets on June 12. The next instalment of war debts is due on the 15th. Congress is tentatively scheduled to adjourn early in the month. Before it rises will it empower Mr. Roosevelt to negotiate a. reasonable settlement of this fundamental issue? or will it block his great effort for economic peace with a virtual veto? A hopeful view of the contribution which the trend of events had recently made to the solution of this painful problem of the war debts was taken by the "Christian Science Monitor" immediately after America's abandonment of the gold standard was announced. Under the title "Those Irrepressible Debts" ! this eminently internationally-minded paper pointed out' that, "travelling almost like a stowaway" on the ships i which bore Mr. Mac Donald and M. Herript across the Atlantic on their mission of peace was this unwelcome question,. but thai it' had lately changed its face and that'there had been some1 improvement on the journey. 'Twelve months ago the problem |of revision rested on the justice or the injustice of a settlement in the light of the original transactions and iof the increased burdens. Starting from today '(April 24), said tho "Monitor," the position is decidedly different. Political factors hav<s shifted. And by America's drop, off gold.even th« burden, of payments'is altered. ' The -question today is succinctly ' stated by Mr. Dorsey Richardson 'in his book, "Will They, Pay!" in these terms: "Shall wo -remain adamant and forco default • "by Great Britain and further default by France, or revise the agreements downward; before, June 15, or before June 15 begin negotiations fot revision, agreeing meanwhile to postponement of the' June payments'!" s ' The comment of the "Christian Science Monitor" on' Mr. RichardipnV question is that "arguments oh any other basis miss out the history of the last six months" —a history which had culminated in the nation-wide bank holiday and in President Roosevelt's heroic remedies, and to which a significant addition has since been made.by the decision of the United States not to pay its own oversea debts in gold. In its appeal for a statesmanlike recognition of the facts from an international " standpoint the "Monitor" makes the interesting point that "statesmanship" is derived from "ateenmanship," and, though we find no confirmation of it in the Oxford Dictionary the point is one for which the moralist, if not. the philologist, should be grateful. ' What is needed, says tho "Monitor,'' is statesmanship that sees beyond the clamour of home politics; This was the case at' Lausanne. Accustomed as was the world to confcrcnco failures, the success of the Reparations Conference came- almost as a shock. This implied tribute to the statesmanship of Britain, and especially of her Prime Minister, is the more,welcome because the confessed dependr ence of his brilliant achievement at Lausanne upon the action of the common creditor of all the parties evoked no word of gratitude from, official America, but on the contrary disclaimers and repudiations and polite intimations that the troubles of Europe were of rio interest on the1 other side of the Atlantic: What else was to be expected when official America, like popular America, was too busy electioneering to pay any heed to the fate of Europe, and the support of a proposal to knock a cent off the war debt might have been fatal to any candidate?,. It may be that even if the rigid Mr., Hoover had been re-elected he would still have proved impracticable, but Mr. Roosevelt has a much more open mind, lias no blind faith in the tariff, and has been taught by the world-wide disaster and his own country's special share in it that nothing short' of world-wide action

can provide a remedy. We may be sure that if President RooscvcU could get as free a hand at the Economic Conference as Mr. Mac Donald had at Lausanne he would not allow any punctilios about the war debts to rob the world of the greatest opportunity for united action that it has had since the Peace Conferences. But yesterday's report from Washington showed that, though his expected request for power to negotiate tariff treaties is not likely to excite serio.us opposition, there is no suggestion of a similar solution of the war debt problem. A majority of the members of Congress is still opposed to either the cancellation or the extensive revision of these .debts, nor is there anything to suggest that the previously declared hostility even to a postponement has abated. President Roosevelt will apparently be limited to negotiations with the debtor States individually, and regarding these it is satisfactory to know that ' ' - ' it. ii felt that Britain 'a debt ' was funded on exceedingly hard terms,' and a" specific request for- readjustment might bo accepted by Congress.. • But there are more than fifty other States to be reckoned with, and a breach with France " alone might wreck the Conference. As the Presi? | dent is not a Mussolini, and there is no possibility of circumventing the | jurisdiction of Congress, a- postpone^ menl of the issue for the period of the' Conference may be the easiest way out. ___________