Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1927-05-12
NEWS REVIEW OF
CURRENT EVENTS
Kellogg CURLY Refuses to
Discuss Mellon Letter
With England.

BY EDWARD w. PIcKARD

WHEN Secretary of the Treasury
Mellon in a recent letter to
President Hibben of Princeton uni
versity stated that "all our principal
debtors are already receiving from
Germany more than enough to pay
their debts to the United States"
there was immediate protest In Eng
land against the accuracy of the
statement in so far as 1t applied to
Great Britain. Chancellor of the FIX
chequer Churchill and others made
heated speeches. but it was not sup
posed that the government would
take formal notice of the matter.
Last week, however. Washington
was surprised to receive from Great
Britain long note attacking Mr..
MELONS letter and asking that the
United States government take steps
to remove the unfortunate impress
sion that has been created by the is
sue of this statement"
Secretary of State Kellogg con-
ferred with President Coolidge and
othsrs and then handed to- the Brit
ish ambassador this decidedly curt
reply:
"The government of the United
States regards the correspondence be-
tween Mr.. Mellon and Mr. Hibben as
q purely domestic discussion and does
not desire to engage In any formal
diplomatic exchanges upon the sub
ject."
Mr.. Mellon, believing the attacks in
the British note should not 60 unan-
swered, gave out a statement justi-
flying and explaining at length the
position he has taken in the discus
sion.
Diplomatic circles In London were
as much surprised by the British note
as was Washington. In government
opposition circles there was an in
clination to suspect that the note was
meant largely for home consumption
and for the benefit of the Conserva-
tive party, which has difficulty In ex-
planning the budget deficit
n MEXICAN correspondents in &C.
- neva say that the underlying
idea Of all delegations Except the
Amercan) at the League of Nations
economic conference which opened
last week is that the most practical
step toward world reconstruction and
general prosperity would be the can
collation. of all war debts and repa-
rations. Some of them also had
schemes for the limitation of produc-
ton of wheat, corn. cotton, copper
and other goods, chiefly produced in
the United States. The american
delegates, headed by Henry NJ Rob-
inson of Los. Angeles, were primad to
meet all such suggestions. Soviet
Russia, having settled her quarrel
with Switzerland, sent a bunch Of
economists led by valerian Ossinski.
That gentleman said they would sub
nit concrete proposals to alleviate
the difficulties of the bourgeoisio
world and give a full report on what
was accomplished in Soviet Russia.
NJ Theunis of Belgium is presiding
over the conference and so nations
adopt resolutions and make recon-
mendations, which, however, will not
be binding on the countries repre-
scented, whatever may be the attitude
of their delegations.
FACTS and problems of commerce
and trade on the Western CONT
nent were brought out and discussed
In Washington where both the third
Pan-American commercial congress
and the annual meeting of the Cham
Der of Commerce of the United States
were 10 session. President Coolidge
was chief speaker at joint session
of the two bodies and set forth the
development of trade between the
United States and the countries Of
Central and South America. He said
that not only has the United States
purchased more from Latin-American
x:oHntries than 1t has sold to them, but
1t had for long time been the chief
foreign purchaser Of their products.