Evening star., 1925-08-23
BORAH OPENS FIRE
ON BELGIAN DEBT
SETTLEMENT TERMS
Adjustment Indefensible if 1t
Is to Be Used As PreCe-
dent, He Declares.
UNIVERSAL CRITICISM
is HEARD BY SENATOR
Smoot Tells Colleague That He
Will Prove Repayment Plan
Best Possible.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
Senator Borah Of Idaho. chairman
of the Senate foreign relations COM
rnittee, has wired Senator SmoOt OF
Utah that the Belgian debt settlement
IS almost universally criticised ana
that it cannot be defended If 1t Is to.
serve as precedent for funding
other foreign obligations.
Senator SHoot, in reply. empha-
sized that the Belgian agreement,
signed here last Tuesday, was not to
be construed as a precedent for future
settlements and added that he could
convince the committee chairman that
it was the best settlement under
Belgiums present condition.
Senator Borahs telegram, under
date of August 20, and made public
here last night. follows:
"If there was any reason peculiar to
Belgium why this settlement was
made it should be stated TO the public
1t should also be stated that this is
no precedent for other settlements.
Pardon this suggestion. But this set
tlement is almost universally crlt-
died, and if it is to serve as prece-
lent it cannot be defended.
1eAI O1 SI1lOoI
The reply of Senator Smoot, who is
a member of the American Debt Com
mission, read:
Reasons for special terms or set
tlement given Belgium were issued oy
our commission and pubnsneu IN on
Eastern papers. Settlement approved
nv press Report stressed the point
that the debt settlement is no prece-
dent for other settlements. Ihlnk 1
can convince you it was best settle
ment under Belgium's present condl-
ton"
The terms under which Belgium Is
to pay back her war ana postwar
debts to the United States pfoFlue Lol
S171. .7s0. 900 loaned during the war
and for partial remission OF the IN
terest on the S246, 100000 borrowed by
ReIgium after the armlstice. She Is
given SO years in which to complete
/ her payments. The settlement was
$described by the American coinllls
sion as A recognition by the Onlted
states of "a weighty moral obhga-
tion'' as a result Of assurances gwen
Belgium by President Wilson at the
time of the Versailles peace confer
ence and in view of the right OF the
little kingdom to special treatment py
this country.
Congress o. X. Is Seen.
Although the agreement must be
ratified by Congress before 1t can take
effect. both Senator Smoot ana Rep-
resentative Burton of Ohio, anCther
member of the American Debt Com
mission, expressed the opinion after
the settlement was reached that II
would be acceptable to the Legislative
branch, Mr.. Burton, however
thought some Senators might raise
objections TO the plan.
II was made clear by the American
commissioners that Belgium was con,
sidered the most favored nation
among the debtor countries, and that
the funding arrangement could not be
construed as a new basis for settle
ments to be negotiated with france
and Italy, the two principal debtors
whose accounts remain open.
Consideration also was given to the
financial and industrial conditions in
Relgium at the present time in work
ing out the funding agreement, the
American members pointed out
Members of the Belgian commission
were non.committal following the an
nouncement of the settlement terms.