Evening star., 1925-09-28
CaiIIaux Presents Further
Details of French Position,
With Definite Data on Ca
paCity to Meet Payments.
PROPOSAL OF AMERICANS
IS NOT FLATLY REJECTED
Increase of Harmony Between
Two Delegations Brings More
Confidence That No Effort Will.
Be Spared to Reach Agreement.
Congress and French Senate Big
Factors.

Franco-American negotiations to-,
day got down to definite discussion
of terms for payment of the $4,000
100000 French debt to the United
States, with definite indications that
progress is being made.
French Foreign Minister Caillaux,
in a brief Joint session with the
Americans this morning, laid on the
table a document understood to have
presented further details of Frances
capacity to pay and general fiscal Sit
uation, bearing directly upon the
terms the French feel they will be
able to meet.
The American commission planned
70 meet at 2 so 10 formulate the
American position on the latest de-
velopments, and a joint session was
scheduled for o'clock with the
French.
Proposals Clarified.
While there had been indications
from French quarters that the docu-
-
CaillauX would be in principle a de-
fense of the first French offer with
request that the Americans respond
with further calculations as to the
American rejection to that offer,
there We're added indications today
that perhaps the two commissions
have before them even more detailed
terms as regards interest rate, size OF
annual payments ana the amount of
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ing the early years of funding.
The French, it was understood,
have not gone to the extent of fatty
rejecting the American proposal that
the French. should more closely fol-
low the line of the British h-American
agreement, 3 per cent interest for the
first 10 years and S12 per cent there
after during the 62 years amortiza-
ton.
No deadlock has been reached, it
was indicated by a member of the
American Commission after today
session. There is a possibility of an
accord and there still exists, he said.
the chances of a deadlock.
Hope of Agreement Grows.
However, the general indications
from both the Americans and the
French today were considerably more
hopeful of reaching a common basis
for discussion than at any time dur
ing the negotiations. This was true
in spite of the fact that the two orig
inal positions of the respective gov
ernments are known to have been
widely divergent.
One member of the American Com
mission indicated that definite prog
ress had been made toward an agree
ment Terms actually are being dis
cussed in detail, it was said.
CaillauX seemed full of his usual
optimism both prior to and after the
brief sessions with the Americans.
Exactly what his reply to the
American proposal was this morning
was not made public, but it had been
indicated that the French experts
were developing an imposing array
of statistics to present regarding the
ability of France to pay off her debt.
No one outside the two commissions
today knew whether CaillauX had
presented in addition to his capacity
to-pay document any more generous
offer than he first laid down Thurs
day morning when the negotiations
opened.
Atmosphere More Cordial.
The atmosphere surrounding the
meeting this morning appeared to be
more cordial than at the two previous
joint sessions of Thursday and Fri
day. This was attributed largely to
the fact that over the week end there
had been numerous personal contacts
between the heads of the commits
sion in luncheon and dinner engage
ments and a sightseeing trip yester-
day morning to Mount Vernon. These
occasions were reported from both
sides as being productive of amity
and also reconciling some details
of the differences between the two
positions.
With the sailing of Frances FL
nance Minister, Friday night, rapidly
approaching, there was prospect that
within the next "a hours the negotia-
tions would go through some serious
stages. The fact that two joint ses-
sionS are being held today for the first
time was evidence of this.
One factor pointed to today as
having a heavy bearing upon the
difficulties in reaching an agreement
was the fact that any concord arrived
at by thte two commissions must be
approved by the French Parliament
and the American Congress. The
temper of these two bodies and of pub
lie opinion behind them is being con-
Stantly kept In rf1nd by both delega-
tions. Both realize it would be futile
to sign a paper which might be re-
jected by either of the legislative
bodies.
Differences of Attitude.
Two other factors interpreted today
as entering largely into the divergence
of opinion were the French sentiment
that France is poor and Uncle Sam
rich, and, on the other hand, the fact
sometimes forgotten by French diss
cussion, that the American Govern
ment is paying more than 4 per cent
interest on the French loan now, in
tereSt taken out of the pockets of
American taxpayers.
Social engagements between the two
commissions yesterday included trip
to Mount Vernon in the morning and
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