The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1926-06-01
A PREMIUM ON WAR

Peace" said President Coolidge yesterday aft
ernoon at Arlington cannot but to large extent be
dependent upon our sentiments and desires
Nothing could be truer
Gone are the days when were fought to de-
termine a secession establish dynasty or crafty
the whim of idotmonarch
Tomorrow's will be born of economic ne
cessity of fear and hatred.
1t is essentially necessary, the way the world
is geared up at present for the United States to
become involved in a disastrous war because of its
European debts Do not the European masses
blame their every Ill upon and in their ignorance
and misery cry out that we have made them slaves?
1t may all seem very silly to US, but it is fright
fully real in the minds of European peasant and
man,inthe-s street.
The current number of Golfers Weekly very
apty shows how it works.
rWe were consderate of the valor and suffering
of France" said Golfers. "She owed four bill
lions and we cut that in half and called it two bill
lions And every one in France is cheering us?
"Not much
''Frenchmen resent bitterly the terms Of the
debt settlement With varying intensity the Brit
ish and the Italians express the same feelings
America is unpopular Americans are disliked. We
sowed the seeds and we reaping harvest of i'll
will.
eve did the right thing in the wrong way.
"The Frenchman sees only the fact that he owed
four billions and will have to pay six billions. He
sees the poverty of France and he is told that Amer
lea is bulgng with wealth. He thinks that his pow
erty and HIS sacrifices should have been remembered
He believes that instead have driven harsh
bargain
Actually we did cut the debts. The French
obligation was haved Great Britain was required
to pay only fourffths of it's indebtedness Italy
asked for only a quarter Of the principal due.
1--WE should have told the French people and all
the debtor nations that were willing to cut the
debts and had done
SIN the case Of France, having cut the debt in
half we should have asked for bonds to the amount Of
two billions bearing normal interest and to be grad
ualy redeemable a period of sixty-two years.
Then the French people would have understood that
we we're really generous and more than fair.
But we dared not attempt generous tone for
fear the might seize the opportunity to reject
the settlement We talked like shylocks to secure
votes Europe has taken us at our word.
Enormous damage has been done. The French
man sees only the fact that having borrowed some
three billions during the war flour billions down with
Interest," he must pay six billions and that his
children will continue to pay for sixty-two years
1--WE riyeted attention on money. We ignored
the spiritual values And yet, in the history of the
nations nothing weighs more"
e. we nave mdue generous Settlements VI our IOI
eig1 debts said tho President yesterday at Airing
ton And have. But Europeans can't see it be-
cause we did right thing the wrong way So
Europe is seeking a way out. Winston Churchill
British chancellor of the exchequer, has ntinated
the debts would never be paid and LIE Figaro,
of the most conservative of French newspapers in
dicates at least one loophole of escape.
"The settlement, it declared, "leaves US but one
possible Of reducing the burden imposed on
US namely in the event the dollar, as the result Of
some accidental circumstances other, should slump
in the markets Of the world" ID
Il 30 slur on Eurone nor on any debtor natinni