New Britain herald., 1927-05-05
escape the attention of Great Brit iyse

escape the attention of Great Brit aims continental debtors.
 It is pointed out that the fact that the British government took no ac- ton regarding the Mellon-Hibben letter until now (the letter was given out on March 16) Is evidence of Great Britain's desire not to be precipitate. The British govern ment, it is asserted. had clear op- portunity to expose Mir. Melons mistakes" weeks ago. but the con- troversy was then regarded as purely domestic American affair.
 When, however, it became evident that the secretary's letter had creat- ed widespread opinion in Europe that Great Britain was not living up to the principles of the Balfour note. on which the British war debts policy is based. there was no choice but for Downing street to dispatch a note to Washington.
 Lord Balfour laid down the policy that in no case would Great Britain collect more from her con- tinental debtors than she must pay the United states).
 Treasury officials today were busi- ly studying Secretary Mellon's lengthy statement on the British note.. but no authoritative comment on Its was forthcoming.
 Cause of Dispute
 Washington, May 5 R - Great Britain has sought an official re- statement on the debt question from the Washington government. The desire arose from Secretary Mel Ions letter to President Hibben of Princeton university regarding the British war debt but Secretary Kel- logg. in two paragraph note. has replied that the discussion was purely domestic and no desire for diplomatic exchanges is entertained.
 The opinion expressed in the British note. was that Mir. Melons letter in some instances was inac- curate and that some declaration seemed advisable ito remove the unfortunate impression that has been created" To this the Ameri- can treasury secretary countered with lengthy statement devoted to defense of his Hibben communi- cation and a reiteration that can- cellation of war debts would place an unjust burden upon the Ameri- can people.
 Specifically. the British note com- plained against what 1t termed the misleading impression given by Mir. Mellon that Great Britain's debt payments to the United States will not constitute a drain on Englands s economic resources and that she is receiving in separations from other nations more than her payments to the American treasury.
 Point of Disagreement
 A chief point of disagreement, which appears. to have been a, lead ing factor in the new airing of war debts. was statement by Mr. Mellon in his Hibben letter that "all our principal debtors are al ready receiving from Germany more than enough to pay their debts to the United States" This the British government denied as to it's own circumstance and Mir. Mel lon. in his public statement. ad- mits that through typographical error the words ''except Great Britain" were inadvertently omitted. He contended, however, that the error was ''an obvious one" and was corrected immediately in the text following.
 After explaining how the omis- sion occurred in the text, the treas- ury secretary said:
 Mellon's Reply
 ''In the light of this very clear and definite statement. 1t is rather surprising that the British govern ment should lay stress on what the context showed to be typographi- cal error, immediately corrected, and go to such lengths to disprove q statement which was already completely covered"
 In fact, this phase of the Hib- ben letter foreshadowed renewal of the debt discussion long before any intimations developed that formal note was to be delivered. The sen- tence regarding adequate repara- tions by "all'' other countries to take care of the American obliga- tions was subjected to wide discus sion in the foreign press and was the cause for which frequent ques- tions were directed at British cab- inet members in the house of com mons.
 The British note declared appar- ently Mir. Mellon did not take into