Evening Post. MONDAY, JUNE 26, 1933. STRENGTH AND HOPE

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 148, 26 June 1933, Page 8

Evening Post. MONDAY, JUNE 26, 1933. STRENGTH AND HOPE

When Mr. Ramsay MacDoriald and M. Herriot were on their, way across the Atlantic carrying with them, as the "Christian Science Monitor" observed, their respective loads. of "those . irrepressible war debts" as stowaways on board, both vessels were hit by something I that must at the moment have seemed a good deal 'more dangerous than these unbidden but familiar guests. Their good friend President Roosevelt, whom they were going to' seei had discharged a couple of torpedoes .with the result that M. Herriot was quite sorry that he was not safe at home and Mr. Mac Donald was naturally presumed to be feeling much the same. It did not seem a very friendly proceeding on the, part of the President, but he had, of course, to put the interests of his own country first, and he had done it in such, a way as to convince the French.'delegalion that he had blown .the; bottom out of the. proposed negotiations. London,took the same view, as a message dated April 20 showed:— America's abandonment of the gold standard astonished both the Government and city circles. It is widely regarded as a tactical manoeuvre by President Roosevelt on the cvo of Mr. Mac Donald's arrival, especially as America, with masses of gold and vast natural resources, has no basic reason for abandoning gold. Financiers are surprised by America's blow at what is regarded as Britain's last international bargaining point. And the financial correspondent of the "Evening Standard" was quoted as saying that the significance of such a decision on the eve of Mr. Mac Donald's arrival could not be exaggerated and that "Britain with a depreciated currency and an Exchange Equalisation Fund is regarded by the United States as the villain of the piece." / What Washington was thinking was proved by the opinion of Mr. Speaker Rainey, which was cabled at the same time. . There had, he said, been a "concerted and planned" campaign by foreign nations to beat doAvn the United States commercially, but the President's action had confounded them. - Unless those nations come with us to somo international stabilisation they aro lost, .said Mr. Rainey. . . . They have been attempting to take all our gold from us and leave us stranded, and to reduce us to a fourth or fifth" class Power. From this unutterable degradation the President had now come, forward to save his country by * what Mr. Rainey called "the most-statesman-like move taken by any Chief Executive in my memory." As an American Speaker is the party leader of the House of Representatives, Mr. Rainey's perfervidly, patriotic utterance may be taken, especially on such an issue as this, to represent the attitude of Congress. When the opinion of London and Paris was thus confirmed by a united, Washington the chances. seemed to be about.,a hundred to one that it was right, but there was fortunately one man who was not convinced. , On Mr. Mac Donald's arrival at New York on the day kfter all these gloomy prognostications one of the first questions put to him was, of course, whether he'"was disappointed at the action of President Roosevelt, and his cheerful answer \"Oh, gracious, no!" probably gave those very tough subjects, the American reporters, the surprise of their lives. He did mot profess to know all about it, but las far as he had gone there was nothing to worry about. And, simple as he was, Mr. Mac Donald was even able to infer from what he did know about the new development that it co*uld not have happened at a more opportune moment. Aside from the 'bare- fact that the United States had, for the timo being, abandoned tho gold standard it only brings out in. a higher light, he said, the distress of the world, and that is ■what your President and..l are trying to face, and, I hope, to face it successfully.

By emphasising the distress,.'of the world, which was. the very thing they were to discuss at Washington, the action that the President had been compelled to take had played right into their hands, and made success at once more important , and more certain. With this ingenious logic Mr. Mac Donald, instead of being disappointed himself, was able to disappoint ,the prophets of evil. He landed smiling, he continued to smilo throughout his stay in the country, and he, came away with a message of hope which made smiling very much easier for millions of people pn both sides of- the Atlantic. But in the lattst hitch at the Economic Conference for which, the Washington conversations had prepared the way, in iho deplorable differences of. opinion . which have divided the, American delegation on jtwo fundamental issues, in the sharp [rebuff which they and inferentially i

some of those with whom they had been in negotiation have received from Washington, in the demoralising inaction which has been forced upon the Conference for a whole week, in the threat of one delegation to depart, and in the . impatience and bitter disappointment of all the others —in all j this accumulation of misfortunes one might have supposed that even the boundless hopes of Mr. Mac Donald had at last met their match. But is he downhearted? Certainly not. Is he even disappointed? "Oh, gracious, no!" In an official statement to the Press as President of the Conference he showed himself to be as full of hope and life as ever. He had no word of reproof or impatience fpr anybody except for those whose faint hearts have made them think that it is time to go hdme. ■ ■• ■ ■ . .'■..■■ \ • He was meeting tho th;rd -week of the Conference with a very buoyant and hppeful heart,1 he said. He was not discouraged by the United States attitude towards the proposals for a temporary stabilisation of currencies, which he had described as a little setback, adding that xhe never, felt there was very much in it. The situation, left by yesterday's Note was n.ot at all cloudy or uncertain. It enabled them to go on with their work, and they were doing so. There was .a suggestion abroad that tohe Conference should adjourn. He could imagine no more foolish suggestion to be made at this moment. "The Conference is going on," said Mr. Mac Donald, despite certain interests which perhaps desired to destroy it. Conferences, of which he has probably had as much experience as anybody, were "slow-working machines," and always liable to suffer from pessimism in the second week. He admitted that he had actually had a touch of depression himself at t;he Lausanne Conference—that Conference of which Mr. Wheeler-Bennett has said that, it was only saved from wreck by the "almost superhuman efforts" of Mr. Mac Donald himself. But at the present Conference he has had no such weakness, and he has .strength and hope enough to spare to keep others up to the mark, It is an inspiring spectacle to see a man of such frail physique fired by suqh an.indomitable spirit. •' Like the Roman General who was ho/ipured by the Senate because he did not despair of the Republic, Mr. Mac Donald deserves the honour of us all for the obstinate refusal to contemplate defeat which may yet lead the Conference to victory.