HOPE OF SOLUTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21086, 21 January 1932, Page 9

HOPE OF SOLUTION.

WAR DEBT PROBLEM. 'AMERICA'S ATTITUDE. [READY TO MEET EUROPE jCONCIiETE I'LAN FIRST. .VISIT BY MB. STIMSON. By Telegrarli—Press Association—Copyright. (Received January 20. 5.25 p.m.) WASHINGTON. ,Tnn. 19. With the announcement of the substitution of Mr. H. L. Stimson for General C. G. Dawes as the heart of the American delegation to Geneva, on the eve of the delegation's departure, a semi-official outline of the American attitude toward reparations, especially as related to disarmament,, was given to the press. .America's reply to European overtures geeking advice on war debts will be.that Europe must- work out its own plan. Americans part at Geneva will be " silent though influential." Since it. believes that the questions there are primarily European, the United Stales will take no part in the negotiations at Lausanne, but will carefully consider any concrete plan proposed for further postponing war debt payments or other concrete arrangements to meet the present emergency. It is intimated that the American Ambassador to France, Mr. W. E. Edge, has informed the French Premier, M. Laval, in reply to " feelers," that the United States considers each nation's debt on its merits, and does not believe the debt problem is immediately pressing because n o payments are due until December 15. NEWSPAPER COMMENT. repudiation possibility. MUST "GRIN AND BEAR IT." (Received January 20. 7.25 p.m.) NEW YORK, Jan. 20. A summary of American newspaper opinion on the present state of the reparations and war debts situation seems to be expressed by a leading article in the Springfield (Massachusetts) Daily News. "It is increasingly apparent that Germany intends to repudiate her debts," says the newspaper. This situation augurs ill for American taxpayers, who have no alternative but to grin and bear it." The New York World Telegram says:— " Politics were the curse of the issue from the beginning and are now making a bad matter worse. The Lausanne Conference will probably patch up a temporary compromise agreement, then run awajr from the problem until it catches up with it again in a worse form, and America is not represented. America should enter the conference with a definite programme, recognising that reparations and debts never will "be paid." The New York Post says:—" Whatever is done at Lausanne must be done quickly. A combination of a long conference and the political unrest attendant upon the approaching elections in the United States, France and Germany would be highly dangerous." The New York Times says:—The high variability of German capacity to pay partly explains the French reluctance to adjourn sine die. To-day, they argue, Germany cannot, pay, but that there is no telling about two years from now." The Hartford (Connecticut) Times states:—" Congress is likely to be lenient with debtors who expect to pay. It is likly to show no such disposition toward debtors who proclaim that they hope eventually to avoid payment. A further moratorium granted on the condition that it should not hinge upon the payment of German reparations should cause debtors to cease talk of cancellation as a moral right." The Boston Traveller says:—News telling of the importance of Hitler seems to be overdrawn. We. ( suspect that Berlin parades him to worry creditors into concessions that are hardly due to the loser in a self-started war that nearly wrecked civilisation." POLICY OF FRANCE. PREMIER'S DECLARATION. LOOKING TO THE FUTURE. LONDON, Jan. 19. The situation regarding the Reparations Conference at Lausanne on January 25 is still uncertain, although a clarification of the position is anticipated curing the next clay or two, also the result of the exchanges between the Governments concerned. A message from Paris says that to-day M. Laval, the French Premier, outlined the policy of his new Government on reparations and disarmament to the Chamber of Deputies, and it is generally expected that lie will receive a vote of confidence. M. Lava 1 asserted that the cancellation °f war debts and reparations was a panacea without penitence, emanating Ironi imaginative theorists who had not taced the facts. France would not accept proposals which were inadequate to solve the crisis and which struck at her essential interests ,J nd lights. She had to fulfil the duty ,: >f probity toward the generation surviving the war and she would sacrifice no ■credit without a corresponding remission °f ; her own debts. •She had al?o the duty of prudence toward future generations by ■ subordinating agreement to a just balancing °f the conditions of production. The existence of such balance would be broken after the crisis, disproportionate fiscal financial burdens handicapped France in international -competition. France's policy ar» defined in the memorandum of J wly 15, .-In the meantime press messages state ® a t M. Laval has approached the United ates Administration, through the American Ambassador in Paris, regarding s attitude to a possible extension of the •Qoover moratorium., j.A.message from Washington states that Europe draws up concrete plans to Set the present, emergency, the United ti ate \ give them careful considera°n, b«t will not participate in the preliminary negotiations.