Evening star., 1928-12-31
GILBERT ON WAY
HERE ON WAR DEBT
Significance Attached to Mis-
sion of Agent General for
ReparationS.
By Cable 20 This Star.

| By Cable 60 This star.
| PARIS, December 31.-S. Parker Gill
bert, agent-general for reparations pay
ments, is en- route to the United States
on a mission which has the greatest
| bearing on the relations between the
| Old World and the New. Mr.. Gilbert
sailed from Southampton aboard the
Berengaria on Thursday and is due at
New York Wednesday morning.
Perhaps no other problem approaches
in vital European interest what Mr.
Gilbert may say and succeed in doing
at Washington and what replies Presi-
dent Coolidge. Secretary of the Treas
ury Mellon and perhasps President-elect
Hoover will give him.
Seeks Attitude on Liquidation.
Such men as Premier Poincare of
France, Winston Churchill, chancellor
Of the exchequer of Great Britain, and
DR.. Kjalmar Schacht, president of the
German Reichsbank, look to Mr. Gil
bert to ascertain just how much Wash
ington will do to help liquidate the war
debt and how much assistance America
will -governmentally as well as
from her bankers and money markets.
They do not expect public announce
ments from Washington at the end of
the agent generals coming conferences
to the effect that the American Gov
ernment has altered broadly its attitude
toward Europe. But they place the
greatest significance on what Mr.. Gil
bert may be able to assure them when
he returns
Behind this hope is the unchanged
conviction in Europe that the United
States holds the power to make or
break the approaching reparations ex-
perts' task of reducing Germany's debt.
The belief is predominant here that
eventually the American Government,
| as well as the American bankers, will
have to join the reparations realign-
ment.
See u. S. Cooperation as Vital.
The majority of French and British
| flnancierS see little hope of any worth
while reparations reduction unless
| WaShington'S cooperation is involved.
! And they regard Mr.. Gilbert as the one
man who can possibly convince Mr..
Coolidge or Mr.. Hoover of the necessity
| Of this course.
IL is far from the thoughts OF either
Premier Poincare or Mr.. Churchill to
/ broach debt reduction plea to the
United States. But this attitude in no
degree alters the general allied con-
viction that sooner or later the so-called
war debts must be linked with repara-
| tions revision.
The French and British finance heads
are faced with certain figures which,
| from their viewpoint. can be changed
only very slightly if Europe's debts to
America are left out of reckoning There
IS sufficient indication that the promi-
nent statesmen on this side of the At
lantic believe that Mr.. Gilbert, as a
practical financial expert, must share
this opinion.
Knows Germanys Capacity to Pay.
At least, Mr. Gilbert in the last two
months, has had an unprecedented op-
portunity to acquaint himself with the
official views and the actual financial
status Of every nation concerned in the
reparations question. Time and again
he has conferred with M. Poincare, Mr.
Churchill and the German and Belgian
finance ministers. and, in addition, he
is the only man in Europe in a neutral
position who knows Germany's true ca
pacity to pay and-much more impor-
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