Evening star., 1925-05-03
French Should Avoid Shame
OF War-Debt Barter Is Claim

CONTINUED from First Page.)
twice that of the armies, active and
reserve, OF Great Britain, United
States and Japan combined. French
airplanes outnumber the British by
three to one, the United States by
four TO one-in fact. when you take
into consideration that the great ma.
jority OF our planes are what are
called leftover planes. you might say
FIVE or six to one. France has more
airplanes than the United States.
Great Britain and Japan combined.
She has within 46o as many air pilots
as the United States, Great Britain
and Japan combined. All this costs
money, and as II works out, the Amer
lean taxpayer is not only paying the
cost Of our military establishment.
but is in fact paying for the main
tenance of the French military es-
tablishment, or a large portion of it.
and at time when the French tax
payers taxes are less than one half
of what they are In the United States
Question Of Security.
OF course. the answer is security.
But il is well to bear in mind that
security has more than one aspect.
about the future of my country and
trying to estimate her security against
the events Of coming years, I would
not underestimate the value Of solemn
contracts conscientiously kept. Alex
ander Hamilton, in the days when this
young Republic was in the throes of
bankruptcy and when she was hard
pressed on every hand by her credit
ors, declared: THE honor of a ma
ton is its life. Deliberately to
abandon 1t is to commit an act of
political suicide"
A reputation for honest dealing and
conscientious observance of solemn
obligations is a powerful and a most
effective weapon of defense in the hour
of national peril. Relevant TO the
question of security" it Is well to
bear in mind that Mr.. Houghton, for
mer Ambassador to Germany, now
Ambassador to England. while on his
recent visit here a few weeks ago,
stated publicly and specifically that
Germany had disarmed. 1t would
and he left no doubt as to his opinion
that the claim that Germany was
armed, or preparing to arm, or was
storing munitions, was without foun-
dation in fact. Among other things,
he said: Here or there may be found
some crazy man or a few radicals
who may have stored a hundred or
more guns, but I can say that, sub
stantially, Germany is disarmed. Ger.
many will not become again as great
a military power as she was before
the war, because she will not want to.
but she will become a great economic
power, such as she once was"
France Makes Loans.
During the last three years France
has made large loans to foreign gov
ernments-the full amount and ex-
tent Of these loans cannot be stated.
But we are advised by the French
papers giving reports of the proceed
ings of the government that large
loans have been made to Poland
Rumania, Jugoslavia and other coun-
tries. According to LIE Temps. NJ
Henry Berenger of the Senate finance
committee reported in favor of loans
to foreign governments to the extent
Of 1.500,o00,000 francs. This report
is quoted as saying:
II have been unable to make sure
scrupulcusly that the credits asked
from us will. serve also our national
Industries and will be guaranteed by
high revenues (monopolies, revenue
taxes on exports and so forth) clearly
specified and controlled. 1t
will produce good evidence as to our
economic expansion and upon the
necessary strengthening Of our con-
tinental policies in central and east
ern Europe" The news report further
states that outside of the above rec
commended loans was 5000, 900
franc loan to be devoted to the i'm
provement and the enlargement of
the Skoda munition works, making
the plant bigger than Krupps was
during the war. Comment upon these
matters Is unnecessary.
America Should Know.
In an editorial discussion of this
subject Of debts some three months
ago 1t was asked: Does France
mean business? America must know
--and soon." America il entitled to
know. There are a good many rea-
sons why America is entitled to know.
There are reasons why she would
wish to know aside from the question
Of realizing upon the loan. Aside from
the matter of securing the return of
money loaned and relieving the tax
payers OF a portion of the unjust bur
den now imposed upon them, there is
another question, and Il is this: Is
any respect to be paid to the sanctity
of international obligations? Al
time when some understanding Is be-
ing sought by which 1t is hoped to ad-
vance the cause OF peace, which un-
derstanding must rest at last upon the
"plighted word" OF nations, 1t Is OF
n ort n -. 90 L.