The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-02-01
DEBT REFUNDING MEASURE PASSED
 BY THE SENATE
Final Enactment Must Await Adjustment of Differences Between Senate and House,
 Expected Shortly
By Associated Press

Washington, January 31-The bill authorizing the refunding of the $11,0000000 900 foreign debt into se- curities maturing in no more than 25 years was passed tonight by the Senate.
 The vote was 30 to 25 Final enact- ment of the measure must await ad- Justment of differences between oke House and Senate which is expected within a week or 10 days.
 The Borah. LaFolte.e and Norris-joined with the solid democratic minority in opposing tho bill
 Under the terms of the bill com tnlsslon Of five members headed by the Secretary of the Treasury, woulI have authority. subject to the ,n- preVal of the President. to refund or convert. and to extend the time t,f the payment of the principal or ln- terest or both of the foreign debt.
 Inc date of the maturity of hs obligations accepted by the commis- sloh could not extend beyond June To. l947, and the interest rate could NN AN79 AAidA z t4 per cent. Bonds of one feoreign government could ,ot be accepted for those of another TOT could any part of the foreign in- debtedness be cancelled.
 In Force Three ycor.
 The life of the commission wonld be three years from the date of the approval of the act and the members other than the Secretary of the Trea5- ury would be appointed by the Pres ident subject to confirmation by the Senate. During its life the commis- sion would be required to make an- nual reports to Congress at the he- ginning of each regular session m December
 Only members of the Cabinet and of Congress will be appointed on the debt commission according to Sem ator Watson. republican. Indiana. who told the Senate during the de bate today that, although he was not authorized by the President to maxo such an announcement he neverthe- less knew that this was the Presl- dents intention.
 Aside from the section proposing that interest on the refunded debr be not less than "A per cent which was added as an amendment from the finance committee the only important change made in the bill by the Sen ate was the elimination of provision which would have given the commis- any claims which the United States hereafter might have had against "any foreign government"
 nonus Effort Fails Efforts to add a soldiers bonus | provision to the measure: to limit tho authority of tho commission in de ferring interest payments and to res culre congressional approval of tho bond conversion agreements failed. The Senate did adopt, however, an amendment by Senator Walsh. demo- crat. Massachusetts, requiring the commission after tho conclusion nf ! each refunding negotiation to report the results to tho Senate. Senator Walsh explained that the object wa ! to give 'pitiless publicity" to the work of the commission.
 l During the moro than week of debate 1t was charged from both sides of tho chamber that 1t was the pur- pose to defer interest payments for number of years in the interest of private holders in this country of $5, ,00o. 100000 worth of bonds of some of the debtor nations. It was charged that If the interest payments coul,i be deferred for a number of yeas the way might be cleared for The l cancelling of the whole debt. prin- ! cipal and interest.
 These contentious were denied by those in charge of the measure who i stated that 1t was necessary to give the commission latitude in the mat ter of time of interest payments, be- cause all of the debtor nations could not begin payments at tho same time. The Senate was told that tho treasury department expected Great Britain to begin it's interest payments in short time that in tho case of some of the newly created nations 1 interest payments might have to be ] a s.--.. .-..az ls...s A