The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1921-02-06
CHAMBERLAIN. giving the exact facts ana

eminent. This is the first information of
any accuracy we have had in regard to
it,"
II hope the Senator will verify the
statements made in that article" Sem
ator Walsh said.
III shall do So" Senator Mcclellan re-
piled.
Senator Knox (Pa) called attention
to an error In the news story which at
tributed TO him authorship of a resoiu-
ton proposing ito forgive" the payment
of the debts to America of the Allies
He denied ever having made any such
proposal and said: 81 have done many
inane things, but nothing quite so bad
as that"
One phase of the matter came up be-
fore the Senate Judiciary Committee In
the consideration of the resolution OF
Senator Reed (Mo.) proposing to pre-
vent Treasury officials from making any
further advances TO foreign govern
ments on credit balances. This was
before the Houston letter ha1 been pre-
scented to the Senate, but Senator Nelson
(Minn.) knew it's purport and suggested
ii might be sufficient to satisfy the pur-
pose of Senator Reed. The latter In
sisted that the secretary was trying to
avoid an investigation. HE does not
want. the conduct of these loans investt-
gated by Congress and is seeking to pre-
vent IT," he said.
A proposal was made that the finance
committee ought to take the matter up.
ously and II was finally decided to let
the hearing go over to Monday.
All Object to Cancellation.
The Chamberlain speech and the
Houston letter were discussed between
many Senators off the floor, and several
expressed views for publication. These
interviews. without exception. disclosed
opposition to cancelling the allied debt,
and reflected luminosity toward the all
legged secrecy maintained regarding the
whole foreign loan situation. Some of
the statements made by Senators follow !:
Senator Kellogg: II think it should
not go unnoticed that We are given by
Austen Chamberlain, British Chancellor
OF the Exchequer. what purports to be
accurate information that we have been
unable to obtain from our Treasury Of
ficials, namely, that definite proposal
for cancellation of all interallied debts
was made to the American Government
by the British Government
OF course, we have heard this ru-
mored in various ways from time to
time, but so far as l know this is the
first official fntmation on the subject
have seen statements in the press that
England, France and Italy wanted us
to forego collection of their debts to us.
Personally | do not think this ought to
be done. / do believe we ought to know
more about this whole subject of what
the exact situation is regarding Ameri-
can loans to the Allies and to other
countries. / made the point recently in
the hearings before the Judiciary Com
mittee on the resolution proposing to
prevent the Treasury Department from
making further advances to allied and
other countries, from credit balances or
otherwise, that we would be fully in
formed by the Secretary of the Treas
ury just what his authority is for ex-
tending further credit to other nations.
what he has done. what he proposes to
do and the status of negotiations. ff
there are any negotiations. II is infor-
nation TO which Congress is entitled.
and particularly ii is information which
should be furnished to the Finance Com
mittee as guide for future action re-
garding all our fiscal affairs
Senator Pomerene's Views.
II would have to change my views
radically" said Senator Pomerene
(Ohio. Dem.), "if got to point where
debts to America. / know of no Ameri-
can official who has taken any step in
that direction. If such a step has been
taken by the British Chancellor, he
knows more about it than is shown by
any information we have on the SUBJ
ject'
Senator McNary (ore.): I'VE all see
the impossibility OF cancelling the debt
which the Allies owe to u.s.
Senator HoSe Smith Georgia.: II
am amazed, TO say the least. to learn
from foreign sources what we have not
been able TO find out from American
sources. These are matters that Con-
gress is rightfully entitled to know all
about. We should know when the pro-
posal was made, how ii was made,
who refused IL and how il was done.
/ am uncompromisingly against renis-
sion of these debts and the continuance
of these credit advances Advances
that have been made should have been
evidenced, in my opinion. under the
bond acts. by the bonds of these coun-
tries, with rates Of interest at least as
high as rates We had to pay for the
money and dates of maturity not later
than the maturity of our bonds.
81 was a member of the Finance
Committee when these matters were
authorized and the scheme contem-
plated was that we were to lend them
our credits, taking their bonds as evil
dence of Indebtedness with conditions
as / have indicated. That was what
the bill meant. / cannot understand
WHY their bonds or sufficient notes
were not taken, If not when the credits
were extended, then Immediately there
after. The payments made since the
arnlistice are astonishing. wish 1
could understand them. L cannot"
Senator New 0ndiana), member OF
Foreign Relations Committee. said IL
any definite proposal for cancellation
of the interallied debt ever was made
nv British officials to America he knew
nothing of IT.
The newspaper account may De IN
correct" continued Senator New, but IL
we may assume that Mr.. Chamberlain
is correctly quoted. again we are get
ting information from abroad concern
ing our own affairs that has not been
intrusted to the Senate by the officials
Of our own administration"
Senator New mentioned the visit here
some time ago of Sir George Paish and
"a I'd he doubted IL that official had pro-
missed cancellation of the debt owed to
tho United States. "If any proposition
Of that kind ever was made" he con-
cluded. 1T was singular that the fact
has been so carefully concealed by ad-
ministration officials"
AMERICAN REFUSAL
CAUSES COMMENT