New-York tribune., 1922-10-15
Debt TO France
Why 1t Cannot be Wiped Out by the
Plea of Bankruptcy

=" the c1uitoT Oh Inc Tribune
Sir: One of the foremost bankers
this country has produced, who is also
distinguished as public;st. and whose
services to the Allied cause in the war
we're very great indeed, made to me the
other day an observation typical Of
the confusion of mind existing even
among enlightened persons concerning
the subject of inter-Allied indebted
ness and reparations, due to the inten-
sive pro-German propaganda. He said:
France is wrong in treating as a debt
what Germany is required to pay her
for reparations, and in taking the posi-
tlon that in order that that amount
shall be reduced to meet the views Of
her creditors they in turn should re-
duce what is owing to them by France.
Germany had nothing to say as to what
France should get for reparations. The
amount was imposed on Germany, and
therefore is not debt"
A debt is a legal obligation to pay a
sum of money. To view it on any other
basis leads to misunderstanding. For
example, when some say that France
is morally bound to pay what our
Treasury advanced to her during our
participation in the war the answer is
obvious that every dollar of it and
much more was used by France to
fight what had become our war
while we were emerging from our state
of unpreparedness, and that mean
while the French not only fought but
bled and died in the common cause. So
discussion of debts on any other basis
than as legal obligations to pay is un-
profitable to those who wish to collect.
Now, every man in this country
knows, or should know, for it is the
law Of the land, that money judg-
ment is debt--a legal obligation to
pay.
Among money judgments there are
two categories which will illustrate
what wish to make clear. When a
man fails to pay q note the holder OBJ
taina judgment. The debtor. unable ia
pay, seeks to be discharged Of 1t under
The United States Bankruptcy law, and
upon complying with its provisions he
obtains the discharge sought. IA
Another man burns down his neigh
bor's house. First Of all he is sent to
state prison, without his permission be-
ing asked. Next the neighbor whose
home has been wiped out sues to have
his damage assessed. The court and
jury proceed to do so and judgment is
awarded to him for lump sum. The
incendiarysis in Jail; his consent to the
award Of damages has not been asked.
No property Of his can be found. He
seeks discharge in bankruptcy The
United States court tells him that 1t
will release him from all his ordinary
legal obligations to pay money, but not
from that judgment for damages for
deliberate injury to his neighbor. That
obligation, under the law, he cannot
evade. For twenty years everything
he owns OF earns is subject to seizure
under the judgment. There is no way
out except to pay.
The holder of note is creditor.
The holder Of a Judgment for damages
for malicious injury 60 property is q
judgment creditor. Both the note and
the Judgment are debts. The note can
be wiped out by bankruptcy. Such a
judgment remains in force notwith-
standing bankruptcy.
With malice aforethought, upon the
basis of charges in her declaration of
war which her government knew to be
tissue of lies, the German nation in
arms, with hardly dissenting voice,
invaded, pillaged and ravaged Frances
richest provinces, tortured and deci-
mated their populations. The misdeeds
lasted four years and three months.
| Defeat ,alone stopped them. Against
Germany, convicted at the bar Of civil
ization, damages have been awarded at
an amount notoriously Inadequate. II
that judgment is not a debt there is no
! such thing as debt in the world.
MAURICE LEON.
New York, Oct. 13, 1922.