The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-10-16
Ia McAdoo's Misrepresentation Of
harding Deliberate or Mistaken?

Harding Deliberate or Mistaken?
Ex-Eecretary McADoo may be ut
ferly ignorant of Senator HARDtSo's
declarati lions regarding the European
debts owed to US. Ex-Secretary Nc
ADoo may be misquoted In the Dub
liahed remarks attributed to him ABOUT
those declarations of Senator HAIR
DINO. But If he Is not thus merely
Ignorant or II he is not thus mac
curately quoted he is guilty of de-
liberate Justification when he says in
his Cleveland speech what is reported
as follows:
",rhe nations OF Europe owe the
, American people more than ten bill
Ions for money loaned to aid in pros
scouting the war against the Central
Powers. In recent speech Senator
HARDING intimated that he would
\ rather see this debt cancelled or for
given our foreign debtors than allow
them to work it out through exchange
& Of goods and commodities.
In the Baltimore speech to which
Mr.. McADoo refers Mr.. HARDING did
not say, Mr.. HANDING did not init
mate, that this debt might be can
celied or our foreign debtors ''for-
given" Senator HARDING said spec.ii-
cally and unqualifiedly:
we are not prepared to wipe from
cur books Europe's debt to us--even
in the unlikely event that this were
seriously proposed or would be ac-
copied by any debtor nation"
Mr.. HARDING did not say, Mr. HAB-
DING did not intimate, that our for
eign debtors should not be allowed to
work out the debt through exchanges
Of goods and commodities. Senator
HARmNG said specifically and nm
qualif1edly:
still less practicable is the dis
charge Of the enormous indebtedness
by wholesale gold imports. Large
exports Of merchandise from the
debtor to the creditor country re-
main as the line Of least resistance
and to this course we must be pre-
pared to see Europe bending every
EFFORT II Is the natural way in
which restoration from war must be
wrought"
But then. after making it clear that
these debts could not be wiped off the
books, that they could not be dis
charged with floods of gold and that
they naturally would be taken care Of
with merchandise, Senator HARDING
went on to point out that precautions
must be considered to prevent these
imports of foreign goods from coming
down upon our shores in such sud-
, den and stupendous tidal waves that
Thcy would sweep away American In
. dnstIies, American investments and
American employment, and thereby
impoverish both the wage enrners anil
the nation. In giving this warning Of
the need of governing these necessary
imports Senator HAnDrNa's exact
language was:
But food OF imports from debtor
countries intent upon stimulating
/. their productive output and aided.
even though undesignediy. by an I'M
favorable foreign exchange. would be
a bitter experience for the creditor
country. We mean 10 deal consider
atcly. ~ want to help. but we do
not mean TO paralyze America TO ef-
feet restoration.
1T would be incomparably better
Tor our credits TO remain uncoIlected
and our balances 70 be waived than
for liquidation to take the form OF
an undermining food Of Imports
whether products OF factory, mine or
fsrm--that would cripple American
Industry. degrade American labor and
weaken our whole economic fabric"
Either Secretary McADoo's mind !
honest or II Is not. II Il is honest h
will gladly admit that when he under
took to describe what Senator Han
plxe said his words were gros
perversIon Of the facts and the truth
Either Secretary McADoo Is desirou
Of the respect OF his fellow men o
he II not. II he Is, either he vii
prove that he was led into erros b.
some one who mIsinformed him as Il