Evening star., 1920-01-23
WAR'S.DEBT POOL
'P[ANFA|LS T0GET
AMERICAN FAVOR
:. HHl I'LL III hu u NIID
European Bankers Clumsy
Handling Indicated u. S.
Ito Hold Bag"
By DAVID LAwRENtE.

,European governments and bankers
have not yet gotten oveF The notion
that the United States Will palDcipat
in huge pooling of war debts aud
get behind a comprehensive sch"raA
whereby a general loan rs doaied
that absorbs all the big boud ISSUES
of the war And in so far as The pri-
vate bankers of Europe have joined
with certain American ba mixers to
bring about An international iins nc'si
conference at The Hague 10 he called
by the Chamber of Commerce or ihe
United States. il appears TO be eN-
tremeIy- unlikely rbat the Trea surN
Department will look upon such
project with approval In fact. some
pronouneeHtnt is expected to be is
sued by Secretary Glass in the next
Kew days outlining, the government
p&sitioa.
Rhe Chamtier of Commerce has com
mitfNee at work on report which VIII
answser the invitation made to IL 10 call
the international conference. Whether
il will be approval or rejection depends
largely iupon the attitude of The United
states sdyernment. and while there are
some in WV Sshington. not only represent
attves of Ahperican banking groups but
European. insniytions as wei, who stlll
ina gine comprehensive scheme can
be launched 10 fnaIe,e the world during
the trying. DAYS of s&construction, the
prevailing sentiment on tss part oil those
who would naturally have ~ get back
of the plan TO make II effectiS&- ~ lar
from favorable
Trend rs Unfa~orabIc.
The trend seems to be to say to Eu-
rope. that financial RECONSTRUCTION can
only be accomplished gradually, and that
the paths of relief lie through th.
ordinary processes 1of commerce and
such foreign trade corporations as can
be created under the Edge bill
III 1t We're mot for the fact thar
European bankers have shown a
clumsy hand in dealing with the siiu-
alton there would he much more ia
Norable consideration given 10 their
proposals. but nearly every scheme
brought fourth has in il the earmarks
of what the average American would
call getting out from under and
leaving the bag TO America to hold
There was, for distance. in the oriei-
nal petition wircb was signed by
various bankers asking for an in
ternatlonai gathering certain sue-
sesl ion that inasmuch as the United
, states had loaned ten billions to the
allies and large part of that was
taken by Great Britain and reloaned
to Belgium. Italy and other allies. The
government of the Emitted Kingdom
ought not 10 he Obliged TO stand. back
of these loans. but ought to be able
to shift them on to the countries
them selves as a respousi bility direct
TO the countryfw which originally loan
ed the money, namely the United
States. Thus America would not have
TO look to the government of Great
! Britain for those billions. hut to
smaller countries whose powers of
reha bilitation would have 10 he
awakened By a proddlng America in
stead ofa prodding Great Britain.
That scheme. whether or not il had
the hacking of any responsible groips
/ ia Eng and, -didsas much damage here
as any one proposal and served j
MAX q persons in authority iook with
much less seathasias SIN and interest on
Ethe new pisn fer refinanc3nathe debts
of The wesad. az
/ Situation Is fecog afzed.- -, T
|. There is no question that the gov
ernment here recognizes how closely
interWoven American prosperity is
with the early reconstruction OF EHa
rope. but the Europeah bankers seem
to have mistaken notion about the
extent to which the public generally
would buy foreign loans now adsys as
compared with the way they 1pnra
chased liberty loans during the war.
The cost of handling huge foreign
loan would he enormous
The many people who gave their .sergs
ices free, sneh as the four m mute mem
and the workers in every state. cilg.
and town, would not he avaiiabie
gratis. and the expense of selling the
loan itself is bound TO be a heavy bur
deR.- =; .t~f r.. y
political conditions in Europe, the ap-
petite of the public for foreign soan.ss
is not altogether certain quantity.
But the various committees at work
here. on. The project -are not diScour
aged and they are trying TO formu-
late some plan that may enlist the
generous support of the American pee-
iple who served the world so spieRdidly
during the war. when the future of
civilization was in the balance. g
Whatever plan is evolved, however.
must. in order TO get even the moral
support OF rour government; involve MOI
new commitments on the part OF the
American government, and must be of
such a character as TO reveal marked
,uDgress toward better schemes of tax
alton inside European countries than
have been put into effect during the war.
| There is feeling here thar, Europe
isn't bestfrrng Itself quite enough and
that America will not be helping matterst
much by giving Europe the-idea' that on.
this side Of the Atlantic is prop that
will never be removed. -,
Copyright 1890.