Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-11
FRAMEWORK TO FIX
PREPARATIONS RISES.
Young Steers Delegates of
Seven Nations From DAN
gerous Topics.
BY LELAND STOWE.
NJ Radio to The Star and New York Herald
sF~sh,

! PARIS, March 11.-For full month
now the best business and flnancia
brains Of seven nations have been al
grips with the problem of revising the
Dawes plan and fixing Germany's
/ separations for the future. We have
seen gradually arise a practical frame.
work for a new and non-political
system of payments which today only
requires the insertion of the commonly
accepted figures for Germany's future
annuities to make it a living and un-
precedented international financial
structure.
The revised plan is virtually ready
The spirit of mutual concessions and
compromise. il it can triumph during
the discussions Immediately at hand
will insure final drafting of re-
vised plan for presentation to the gov
ernmentS concerned The American
reader may. therefore, be justified in
asking what Americas unofficial but
highly qualified delegates have con-
tributed to this evolution of the new
reparations regime. Somehow and surely
in part due to the inherent modesty Of
the United States chief delegate, who
is also chairman of the second Dawes
committee, little has crept into the
news columns of the American dele
gates activities during these extremely
important opening weeks of reparations
negotiations.
Sessions Are Secret.
All the sessions have been secret and
none but official members of the dele
cations have seen the second Dawes
committee in action. AS result news
of these meetings has been largely
bereft of personalities. and each gov
ernment's spokesman has been restrict
cd to the most concise statements OF
fact. Nevertheless it would be a grave
fallacy to suppose that personalities
! have not played a large part in all the
delicate, complicated discussions to
date. Nothing has contributed more
toward keeping the experts in HARMONY
and at work over the past four weeks
than the extraordinary characteristics
of the men here assembled. And it
may be stated that no personality has
exercised more powerful influence for
continued cooperation and confidence
than Owen Young. Elected against his
own preference to the most difficult
role of chairman, Young's tact, patience
and striking OPEN indednesS have
been the dominating factors, from the
days the experts first sat down at the
long table in the salon of the George V
Hotel.
Young Steers Proceedings.
It was Young principally who deftly
steered the early sessions away from
the dynamite filled question of how
much Germany should pay. 1t was
Young who conjured up one side OF an
issue and then another and then Stimu-
lated his associates to conjure up more
until the experts table was almost Ut
tered with suggestions, some OF which
could not fail to appeal to the various
nations represented. :.
These counters" as Young himself
has called them, have been the keynote
Of the experts success to date. There
are counters for Germany-things which
Germany wants, such. as transfer OF
protection and opportunity to gradually
reduce this protection. There are
counters for the French, such as the
provision for continued deliveries In
kind. Thanks to Young's rare knowl-
edge of human nature. there are
counters" for erybody-something 70
bargain with and exchange. In addition
to this he has refused steadfastly to at
tempt to exercise a directive authority
over the delegates. In every session his
methods have invariably been to seek
the advice of all his colleagues, to leave
the path open for them to choose, or
perhaps to drop mere suggestion which
almost inevitably has been followed. No
one as vet knows how much he has ac-
complished by his quiet side talks with
Schacht, Moreau, Francqui and others,
but If the truth were known. that, too,
would represent vast contribution to
the experts progress.
Noroar Site Near Younp
At Young's left hand during the
plenary sessions is seated the United
States second delegate. j. P. Morgan.
All the world knows the king of Wall
Streets gift for saying little and saying
much, and Morgan has been first OF all
himself throughout the negotiations.
He speaks seldom. When he does speak
it is with the voice Of a great banking
executive-makes brief, straightforward
statement of his position. His opinions
are direct; every one knows where he
stands and why. Beyond that every one
present knows that his opinion reflects
with rare accuracy those of Americas
greatest financiers. Hence Mr.. Morgan
fulfills function which no other Ameri-
can could accomplish quite as WELL
Next to Morgan sit Thomas w. Lamont
and Thomas w. Perkins. Lamont,
whose discretion is so ingrained he
even neglected to inform the American
correspondents that he himself was in
cluded in Revelstoke's subcommittee of
big bankers, has contributed another
highly important characteristic of the
House of Morgan. For it is Lamont
who is thoroughly versed in financial
and banking details. All the bypaths
of commercialization and mobilization
are familiar ground to him, and in
recognizing the far-reaching work of
Reyelstoke's group in assembling the
framework for the plan full account
must be taken Of Lamonts work in
helping to unsnarl the knots of inter-
national finance.
Perkins Extremely Modest.
Like Mr.. Young, Mr.. Perkins is ex-
tremely modest. Like Mr.. Young, too,
he has the rare gift for mediatorship
and cooperation. For two years as
president of the arbitral tribunal of
Interpretation. which was set up to adj
judge the disputes that might arise
between Germany the allies over the
Dawes plan execution Perkins so ably
neutralized all the opposing opinions in
every controversy that never once was
he forced to resort to the chairman S
rightful prerogative and cast the de-
Gliding vote. In that. in fact, you have
the keynote Of Perkins personality. In
addition, he has thorough first-hand
knowledge of the reparations commits
sion's machinery and such problems as
deliveries in kind. 1t was due to this
that Mr.. Perkins was chosen head of
the second subcommittee on deliveries
IN kind and his name will be heard
more frequently as the negotiations
advance.
Thus every member of the American
delegation occupies an important niche
IN the experts circle. There are MANY
others, such as Stamp, Pirelli, Kango
Mort and Parmentier. to whom great
credit also Is due. but this must be post
poned to another time. What is most
striking to the observers today is this
the second Dawes committee looms as