The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-02-12
WORLDLAbOR
LEGISLATION
PUSHED TO
COMPLETION
Secondary Programs Carried
Out at Conference-Inter-
national Debt Pool is OPP
posed by Americans.
LEAGUE TO DECIDE.
(By Associated Press)

(By Associated Press)
PARIS, Feb. 12.-While President
Wilson and the Allied premiers and
generals are deeply engrossed in per-
fecting the plan for the creation of
society Of nations and arranging the
new terms to be imposed upon Ger
many for a renewal of the armistice,
expiring next Monday, other subjects
of the greatest importance are being
prepared for the consideration of the
peace conference. It is expected that
the conference will spend little time
discussing them, however, and will
pass most of them on to the society
of nations, when the latter has been
created and ready to function.
Foremost on this secondary pro-
gram are the recommendations of the
commission on international labor leg
islation. The commission is one of
the few having an American at its
head and Samuel Gompers. the chair
man has been pushing work along at
great rate, SO that it is expected he
will have a report ready for the con-
ference as soon as it is ready to re-
ceive it,
There have been difficulties in rec
onciling the diverse views of British
and American labor interests, as each
is radical in some respects and yet
conservative in others, in the opinion
of some labor leaders. It is said the
difficulty in getting together has risen
from the fact that there is no coinci-
dence between their plans. The Brit
ish are radical where Americans are
cautious, while the Americans throw
L.
sidering matters on which the British
are careful.
Discuss Financial Questions
Meetings are going on today as they
have almost continuously during the
last few days. between men who have
come to Paris at the call of President
Wilson and the premiers to deal with
great financial problems arising out
of the war. Every delegation admits
the gravity of the problems presented
and the absolute necessity for their
settlement il the world is to be saved
from universal bankruptcy. In no
place is it regarded as so evident that
there must be the fullest and most
cordial cooperation between the ma
tiOns now represented at the confer
ence than in the effort to restore the
stability of currency, reduce prices to
reasonable level, get rid of super
fluous issues of war paper, prevent
further excessive fluctuations of ex.
change and regulate the rates of in
terest on, and the amount of, bonds
to be issued.
Already initial steps have been TAX
en- to commit the peace conference to
the adoption Of great international
pooling system of debts, which shall
include all neutral nations, whether
they wish to or not. This will meet
with the most determined resistance
from the American delegates. who
feel that America did her full share in
aiding the allies by furnishing troops
and almost unlimited supplies Of
money and material. They are under
stood to be quite willing to rid France
of the nightmare Of German power
in extending further credits to per
nit France to rehabilitate her indus
tries and enable her and Belgium as
well, to hold their own in the worlds
market, but they thoroughly appre-
ciate the fact that it is beyond their
power to commit their country to par
ticipation in any monetary credit
system with European powers. They
also feel that some of these countries
have been derelict in not imposing,
as the United States and Great Brit
ain did, additional taxes upon their
own people during the war to meet, at
least in part, their obliga tions, instead
of calculating upon reimbursement
from indemnities to be collected from
the enemy.
The revival of the spirit of the old
Paris economic conference. which
planned boycotts and after-the-war
determinations, is sometimes in evil
dence during discussions. 1t made its
appearance in the desire of one
country to impose discriminatory du-
ties on enemy commerce during CON-
sideration of the plan to make all
International waterways open to all
nations on even terms. This was re-
garded as a violation Of one Of the
fourteen points," but the commission
dealing with the subject is having
some difficulty in passing this point
However, the general acceptance OF
tho principle Of international control
over such waterways to the extent at
least of prescribing rules which shall
govern navigation and defining the
riparian rights of abutting nations,
is to have paved the way for ulti-
mate agreement in the commission
upon a report which will probably be
received with approval by the peace
conference or its legatee, the society
of nations.