Evening star., 1923-11-02
P0|NCARESTAND. Il
HELD INDEFINITE
phraseoIogy of Premier's
ParIey Speech PerpIexes
Officials Here.

ny DAVID LAWRENCE.

What's the difference between Ger
many's present. capacity 80 pay and
her future capacity term Of
years is mGlnt rhy the word ."pres-
ent." and Goes the suggestion that
new msth4ds of payment" be de-
vised covaH only this Years pay
mcnts. or Che next thirty years or
more?
All these aauestions have been pro-
yoked by :J'remfer Poincare's latest
speeches. vet It: is premature to say
that they eannopt be answered sat
isfactorily to all the Interested pow
ers or that the proposed inquiry into
Gormany's capacity TO pay will COL
lapse through the Withdrawal OF the
United States or any other power.
Pessimistic Impressions prevail. it
Ia true. but they are based entirely
on some press dispatches, which in
Gicated that Premier Poincare was
trying to limit the scope of the par
ley. Thus far Secretary Hughes has
not received any official word of any
new restrictions and until he reads
Premier Polncares exact language
in the next official note on the sub
iect it is Inaccurate to say the pro-
posed parley will not he held.
speech Political.
There's many a slip''tw a speech
delivered. by Premier Poincare for
hnmc consumiIt ion in the midst of an
electoral campaign and an interpre-
tation TO newspaper men given out by
the French; foreign office of that
speech which may be made for con-
sumption overseas.
First Of all 1t is not difficult to rec
oncile what Premier Poincare said in
his speeches with the hroadest kind
of an inquiry by experts into Ger
many's capacity TO pay Even if the
first point should be limited to an in
qniry into Germany's present capac-
tty to pay, the second point which
deals with new methods of payment.
must NECESSARILY he considered as en-
bracing, long period of time. No
countrIS affairs can be financed on
the ba sis of one or two or three years.
Nations deal in thirty and fifty year
periods when making international
loans. Under the head OF new meLh
DDS of payment the proposed COM
mission of experts can express to the
world their opinion as to Germany S
capacity to pay just IS readily as ii
that were a subject by itself
But there is a fundamental of no
small Importance involved in Premier
Poincare's idea fof trrIng To d!stin-
Guish between GeTTE1an-'s present and
future ca,.acfty-~ to pay. He would
be among tie first to admit that Ger
many cannot make her annual pay
NETS now. ,Sut for the sake OF the
French people and their Interests he
would not dare to admit that what
Germany cannot do today she will be
permanently unable to do. In oth
words, he doesn't want any advice
given which will mean reduction or
cancellation }of the total debt simply
because OF Germany's present plight.
weuIdn't Destroy Bonds.
What would be tfer:nany's condit ion
when once She received All lnterna-
ti0nal loan and her business ma
chinery was. revived under. the slim =
uluS of Il settlement of the entire
repara ticu controversy and the eS-
tencion CT credit TO her general"
Mr.. Poincare may be willing to ad-
NIT that some of the sums repfesen.-
ed by the so-called &c" bonds may
never be paid, but he doesn't intend
to agree to tear UP those bonds. He's
like so many Americans who have
gathered in paper marks or Russian
rubles. They indulge the hope that
maybe some time they viii be worth
something.
From the American viewpoint il Is
naturally desirable that the proposed
conference get going if it is only to
oreak the deadlock of the last two
years and train the eyes of the whole