The Washington herald., 1920-07-13
BRITISH HOPES
FOCUS ON SPA
Armed Invasion by Russia
May Follow German
Disarmament.
LEAGUE DESIRE CROWS
Money Market and Loans
Subject Of Much
Uneasiness.
LEAGUE DESIRE CROWS
BY SIR GEORGE PAIsH.
Warrington HernId-Public Ledger
Service. Special Cable DispatehD

London. July 12-The Spa con-
florence is absorbing public atten-
tion aud there is general hope 1t
will provide a practical way out
of the dlfficulties with which Eu-
rope Is surrounded.
The demanc upon Germany for
effective disarmar;e mt under terms
of tie peace treaty meets with gen.
eral supp ort ard approval, especial
ly as the picSressives in entente
and neutral nations hope that dis
armament o; Germany will be fol-.
lowed by similar action every
where. Furthermore. business mon
- all parties recognize that with
Europe 80 badly injured by wars,
she cannot afford tc spend still
greater sums upon armament than
before the war. Unless Germany
is effectively dis armed IL will not
be possible for ether nations to dis
arm.
Fear Russian Invasion.
1t IL generally ANTICIPATED that.
as regards disarmame at any
rate the German government and
people can perform their obligations
under the treaty. and must do SO.
On the other hard. the danger of
a possible Russian invasion Il Ger
many cannot now be altogether ig-
nored- A. well-equipped and we'll
disciplined Russian army is report
ed to be on the borders of Poland
and Warsaw to be I'm danger. 1t
is obvious IL the Russian Bolshevist
army invaoes Germany when the
latter has no arms and no army to
hA sd
bility of the entente nations for
her defense and protection will be
considerable.
Extremists in Germany look upon
both disarmament and the Russian
invasion as enabling them to create
the Spartacist government they de-
sire. How far that would make
for the safety of France and Bel
gium is an open question.
A policy that seems to be both
essential and urgent Is to make
peace with Russia and disarm Ger
many. with the understanding that
general disarmament of the entente
nations, as well as of Russia, Will
be carried out under a guarantee
of protection from the league of
nations. In turn that renders es-
sential the formation of a complet-
ed and effective league of nations
with the least possible delay.
Discussion of the terms of repa-
ration is looked forward to with
great interest, but in London hope
of satisfactory settlement of the
difficulty is not very strong. There
Is much dissatisfaction here with
the bankers policy in limiting
credit. and that in no small meas
ure is responsible for the attack
on the governments excess profits
tax and for criticisms of govern
mental expenditures which are held
to be largely responsible for the
need to limit banking credit.
There is some talk of possible cas-
Ter conditions in the money market.
and now that loans, recently OBJ
tained from. the Bank of England.
have been redeemed, doubtless short
money will be fairly plentiful but
there seems to beb little prospect of
any fall in discount rates. AS the
year wears on. higher, rates are ex-
pected in influential Quarters.
What course the money market.
and-with it international exchange.
takes, depends however. in very
large measure upon results OBJ
tained at the Spa and Brussels con-
ferences. II those results hold out
hope of tangible economic and fin
ancial Improvement. then money
may become easier, but IL on the
other hand, nothing is accomplished,
then higher rates for money and
lower exchanges are anticipated.
People generally expect the latter,
but IL Is usual in England to expect
the worst and to hope for the best.
Copyright. 1870. BY Public Ledger Coz