Evening star., 1924-01-26
BASIS FOR SETTLING
PREPARATION ISSUE
FOUND BY EXPERTS
Indication That Ruhr Evacu-
alton Will Be Advocated, Is
Not Apparent.
BY PAUL SCOTT MOWRER.

BY Cable to The Star and the chicago Daily
News. Copyright. 1924
PARIS, January 26.-While the
committees Of experts are working
in secrecy. relieved only by brief
bulletins issued daily. it is now pos
sible to forecast on broad lines the
possible reparations settlement TO
which their labors seem tending.
/ Their work has been going forward
rapidly under Gen. Dawes plan for
. two sessions daily.
AS it has been understood from
the first that the committees would
proceed to Berlin only after having
reached agreement Of principle in
, Paris, the fact that they are leaving
for Berlin early next week may be
taken to indicate that these agree
ments of principle now are practi-
cally concluded.
The reparations problem, as seen
by European statesmen has three
inseparable aspects, namely. the Ger
; man reparations debt, the allied war
! debt and the question of French or
continental security. The experts of
merely with certain details of one
aspect, the stahiliZation of German
currency. the balancing of the Ger
man budget and investigation of the
flight of German capital. all in rela-
ton to the German reparatiors debt
Must Consider Others.
Yet it is inevitable that the COM
mittees expect to be obliged to take
cognizance of the other aspects, even
if only negatively. Thus under the
headline of Erencb sarvrity they Saen,-
ingly do not intend to recommend that
the French and Belgians shall evac-
uate the Ruhr. They seem to see no
reasons why military occupation OF
these regions should necessarily in
terfere with d resumption of normal
economic administrative life.
Under the heading Allied War
Debts" the opinion OF the experts
seems to be that payment Of the
French debt to Great Britain and the
United states depends necessarily on
what France may be able to recover
from Germany. Hence until il is
known pretty definitely what Ger
many can pay it VIII be inexpedient
to reach debt settlement.
Under the heading Of German rep
arations debt the experts have adopt
ed the thesis that the only way to
discover what Germany can pay is by
actual experiment. 1t is the task of
consider these questions in the alb
Stract, but to discover how Stabiliza-
tion of the currency and balancing of
the budget can be effected in connec-
tiOn with a practical scheme of rep
arationS payment.
For currency stabilizaton. they rec
ommend establishing new bank of Is
sue on gold basis, preferably in a
neutral country, with a capital of per-
haps billion gold marks. furnished
chiefly by Germans, but also by foreign .
investors. Il is believed the bank would
thus be insured from becoming the in
strument of political naneuvers and
would give such genuine guarantees of
security that necessary capital could be
easily obtained.
To estimate how much German capi-
tai has emigrated is admittedly diff
cult, but it is felt bank of this kind
would inevitably attract a considerable
amount of this flown capital. while
a possible reparations settlement. would
result in attracting most OF the rest of
this German capital back to Germany.
Once the currency is stabilized the
experts seem to think the balancing of
the budget would be relatively easy, for
Germany has reduced her internal debt
almost to nothing and has less military
and naval expenses than before the war.
However, the Hunr ana the fS1lnela land
constitute one of the most productive
parts of Germany andSt is thought nee
essary these regions should again be-
come productive in order to contribute
their share of taxes.
Compromise Seen Vital.
The principal question just now
seems to be whether the French are
willing to release the Ruhr taxes to
Germany, and, if not, whether some
compromise can be reached. It is
also apparent that Germany must
have some kind of a moratorium. the
duration and conditions governing
which are still under discussion. Opti-
mism continues to prevail in Ameri-
can circles, but German circles seem
extraordinarily gloomy, although.
whether this is because 1t is feared
the committees Will fail or succeed
Is not clear. The French seem much
Interested, but slightly skeptical AS
for the British, their attitude was
well expressed yesterday by the Brit
ish expert, Sir Robert Kindersley
who said: Our task is obscure and
heavy with responsibilities, but we
intend to spare no efforts to reach a
conclusion both practical and con-
vincing."