Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-24
Back to the Dawes Plan.

The reparationS door at Paris has not
yet been finally closed, in the sense
that 1t is absolutely barred, locked and
bolted against any possibility of agree
fnent, but hope of composing the ex-
perts' differences is reported to be
slender.
The Paris reparations experts, it
seems, have finally agreed to disagree.
Their earnest efforts to arrive at a basis
for revision of the Dawes plan have
ended in inglorious failure. Unbridgable
differences as to the total amount the
Germans should pay and as to the an
nuities for which they should be re-
sponsible caused the conferences COL
lapse. Unless eleventh-hour counsels of
wisdom and reconsideration prevail, this
latest attempt to grapple with Europes
gravest international problem is doomed
to pass into history, leaving behind an
undoubtedly more menacing situation
than the one which it was designed to
ameliorate.
To European statemanship's crown
ing incapacity. out of which the World
War was spawned, we now have to add
the fiasco of Paris, 1929. It is not nee
essary to go the pessimistic length of
NJ. Clemenceau in foreshadowing an
other war as the inevitable consequence
of these past two futile months on the
Seine. But manifestly the cause of
European peace has not been bulwarked
by the inability of Germany and her
creditors to agree on the extent of her
future obligations.
So We are back to the Dawes plan.
DR.. Schacht, president of the Reichs-
bank. on whom the burden of blame for
the conferences failure is bound to rest,
declared, on the eve of its adjournment
that Germany would rather continue to
liquidate reparations under the Dawes
scheme than shoulder the burdens of
such revised plan as the Paris ex-
perts lately were considering. Well, it
appears that so it is to be. The Ger
mans have to date lived faithfully up
to all the requirements which the exist
ing arrangement imposes upon them.
They have not done so with a light
heart, but, at least, when they were
due at the captains counter they have
appeared, cash in hand. 1t was they
who sought a revision of the Dawes
plan. Every opportunity was given them
to present their case for revision. Cred
itor nations, including the United States,
sent to Paris the best financial minds
at their disposal None of them, as far
as is known, went there with any other
purpose than to solve their assigned
problem in a spirit of fairness all
around. It proved insoluble The status
quo ante is automatically restored.
To bolster up his final argument for
acceptance of Germanys combined po-
litico- financial ultimatum to the cred
itor experts, Dr. Schacht asserted that
his government had to borrow abroad
even the funds for most of the repa-
ration annuities 1t has been paying
since 1928. German statesmen in the
past have not always been famed for
their sense of humor. It seems not to
have occurred to DR.. Schacht that If the
fatherland is as afflicted with incapacity
to pay as he makes out, it should not
be nearly as easy Shedding as in the
past for Germans when they seek to
float vast bond issues in markets like
that Of the United States, to which,
during the past year or two, they have
had such wide access.