The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-12-19
FIXED GERMAN
PAYMENT NOW
ALLIES HOPE
America May Assist
in Naming Amount
BY MARK SULLIVAN

BY MARK SULLIVAN
WASHINGTON, D. c., Dec. ID
Within the field of foreign relations
most of the first two days of the pres
ent week have been spent in overtak-
ing the host of flying rumors which
broke out during the last three days of
last week. There was adequate and
definite basis for the assertion that
something hopeful and concrete is
ahead of US, but due to an accidental
juxtaposition of number of incidents
which really had little to do with one
another, some of them happening here
and some abroad, there was an
amount of surmise which was almost
grotesquely out of proportion to the
basis of accomplished fact.
There was the success of the Amer
lean ambassador, Richard Washburn
Child, in being helpful in exceedingly
important ways at the Lausanne con-
ference over Turkey; the apparent CIV
ing up by the French of the intention
to invade Germany; the announcement
that Ambassador Harvey will make an
official trip to America, coupled with
his recent utterance about the critical
state of things in Europe; the visit TO
Washington of J. P. Morgan and Elihu
Root; the rather unusual incident OF
President Harding calling on Secre-
tary Hughes; a prediction from official
quarters in Washington that some
thing hopeful might be expected to
happen soon about Europe, together
with certain developments at Paris,
London and Berlin.
OF these incidents several had No
relation to one another, and some OF
them were purely extraneous and had
nothing to do with the question TO
which they were attributed as having
Importance.
America Feels Hope
One solid fact, upon which much
hope can reasonably be based, is that
there is a closer approximation on the
part of many of those most interested
TO assent to the American position
that the amount of the German repara-
tions must be fixed before anything
else can be done And that it is not
only useless but acutely undesirable
to take any steps inconsistent with
this way of handliIg g the problem,
such a step, for example. as evading
Germany in a futile attempt to make
her pay an impossible sum.
Particularly wide of the mark, and
also particularly unfortunate insofar
as it raises false. expectations, was
that part of the recent rumor which
dealt with the cancellation of the
debts to the United States from Eu
rope On this point, as well as on
the heart of the whole situation, =
dependable American point of view,
might be summarized somewhat as
follows:
The one first and indispensable step
is for all those interested to agree on
making the amount of the German re-
parations a fixed sum, instead of an
indeterminate sum as it now stands,
and making it such a sum as Germany
can pay, must pay, and will pay. By
the degree in which there is assent to
this position can it be said there is
progress. 1t is not merely an Amer
ican position: 1t is an inevitable posi-
ton, the only one that can finally pre-
vail.
Loose Keynote.
The quality of indeterminateness in
the amount of the German reparations
is the dangerously loose keystone in
the economic and political structure of
the whole world. If the parties inter
ested should ask America, either of
ficially or through a commission of
business men and economists, to act
as a tribunal or to be part of that
tribunal. to determine how much the
reparations should be, doubtless, we
would give a sympathetic reception to
such an invitation. provided it were
clearly understood in advance that the
Judgment of this tribunal would be ac-
cepted by all parties, and would be
final, and not merely another step in
an interminable wrangle.
The next point, and most import
ant one, is that, in determining the
amount of the German reparations
the one only test, is "How much can
Germany pay?" Germany must pay to
the limit of her capacity. The ques
tion of complete justice must unhap
PLY be dismissed. 1t is not a ques.
ton of saying how much Germany
ought to pay. The injury Germany
did the world could not be repaid by
all the property in Germany. The
question is one of making Germany
pay to the last cent that is practicable
without doing further damage to the
world.
Debt Amounts Irrelevant
It is at this point that it becomes
clear that the amount of debts due tC
America from the allies is wholly ir
relevant What Germany can pay vii
not be greater or less by any disposi
ton Of our debts If we should canoe
those debts tomorrow the fundamental
problem of how much can German!
pay would remain unchanged in al
respects, excep: that probably the
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