The Washington times., 1922-12-17
FRANCE SEEKS PART.
|. Of PROPOSED LOAN
Thinks Credit to Germany Is
Merely Plan Of Harding to
Save HE Face.
SKEPTlcAl OF REPORTS
Diplomats Regard Move as
FeeIer Of Sentiment In
United States.
skEPTIcAL OF REPORTS
By @. r. BERrELLL,

By @. r. BERTELLI,
Universal Service Staff Correspondent.
spseial wireless - Univsrsal Service.
PARIS. Dec. 1s.-France will re-
fuse any American plan for IN
internationa loan unless the major
part Of such q loan In devoted
directly to the payment Of indsm'
nifty.
The details Of President Hard.
ing's alleged proposal to allow q
bankers syndicate to float "a
$1,2S0. 900. 900 credit to Germany for
the purchase of American goods
and unofficial Paris.
PLAN TO SAVE FACE. .r
"The American plan for saving
Europe 10 merely q plan to save the
Harding administration's face with
farmers and financiers who consti-
tute the real Republican party
well-kn0wn diplomat said to me to-
day.
TT 10 encouraging because It
shows that Harding believes the
reparations IL q financial and not q
political subject. But France cannot
abandon the guarantees II now holds
against Germany for any loan with.
out sharing the immediate profits."
SAYS FRANCE Is RIGHT.
Yves Guyot, famous economist
and former finance minister. said:
"Harding's reported intentions are
most important since they show
France the right Of. her determi.
nation to make Germany pay. A.
soon a. France talks about direct
action in her own interest. the whole
world foments.
"The loan proposition. ~ cabied
to this country. 10 impossible Of &C.
ceptancs." -.-
NJ. st. Bryce. noted foreign edi.
tor Of the Journal. said:
II have not received any official
news concerning the loan. but II
seems incredible that the reports
we have received here are correct"
REGARDED AB 'FEELkR.
All quarters regard the loan pro-
posal a. q trial balloon sent up to
Ses which way the wind blows.
. In an editorial breathing skepti-
cism, Jacques Bainville, foreign
editor of the Liberte, says:
''It would. be Interesting to know
whether the banks themselves are
.aAvancing the loan or whether the
money win be put up by individual
Americans whose knowledge Of the
actual situation In Germany ts
very small.
"Cabiegrams from the United
States say that Wall Street In
skeptical. So are we."
The Intransigeant confines itself
to one caustic sentence:
"It In known that American
wheat IL finding few buyers this
year"
VIEWS SUMMED UP.
Frances views summed up are a.
follows:
l-No loan should be made to
Germany unless most OF the money
" applied to indemnity payments.
3-The Allies cannot surrender
their firyt mortgage on German Gus
toms property unless America con-
ssnts to annul or ct least radically
reduce the war debt
3-France II interested only In 4
project that win get her money very
soon, not ten years hence.
Commenting In the lobby Of Par
Lament, q member of the Foreign
Affairs Committee said:
president Hardings propoeal In
lsss than the bankers committee Of
fsrsd last summer and less even
than Germany herself offers.
How can France accept such an
illu0ionary pro5ectT
Another deputy said:
REPAYMENT DOUBTED.
''It 10 interesting to know how
bankers from their offices In New
York can expect to make Germany
repay . loan when We with our
armies cannot"
Ferdinand LAursnt's paper Paris
says.
IN IL not necessary to underline
the puerility Of the combinations
juggiing Billions, forgetting that
the mark 10 worth but sixteen
thousandths Of its normal value, and
that ten days hence II may be
worth only half that.
Extraordinary audacity n neces-
sary to see ten years ahead"
Not q single Newspaper favors an
American plan for an international
loan to Germany.