Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-29
BRITAIN IS GAMER
At HAGUE FARLEY
Snowden's Diplomacy Tri-
umphs in Battle of Wits
Over Preparations.
BY JOHN F. SINCLAIR.

BY JOHN r. SINCLAIR.
Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, August 29.-Philip
snowden, the pale-faced little cripple,
has won.
The British chancellor of the ex-
chequer will receive $4,000, 900 more an
nually than the Young plan allowed
OF this amount around $8,640000 Is to
be guaranteed in the form Of annuities
Ivy the other creditor powers.
| So "Snowden. spidery and livid and
, implacable," receives for Britain about
80 per cent Of what he demanded.
In addition, Britain will receive
ditional annuities. Under the Young
| plan as drawn, she received practically
| nothing.
But this is not ALL Britain's coal in
dustry is at low ebb She needs more
purchasers abroad. SO the Italian
state railways have agreed to buy a
million tons of coal annually from Great
Britain for three years at the top ex-
port prices.
Yesterday it looked as If Snowden
had lost. The "other allies big men
began packing their portfolios preparing
for departure. Such tactics are often
used in diplomacy-and In business. too.
II was the old game of bluff. But the
| thin, small lame Snowden remained
firm. He refused to give in. They Of
fered him so per cent Of his demands.
/ He scorned 1t.
So Snowden leaves The Hague the
victor man. He has increased Britain's
prestige tremendously. Henceforth he
must be reckoned with as one Of the
strong men of Europe.
All this, of course, is subject to Ger
many's approval. But Germany, faced
with the huge Dawes payment on Mon
day should the Young plan fail, will
agree eventually.
Europe leaves The Hague facing the
realities Of life-paying for a war is no
joke.
Every student familiar with French
conditions realizes that in the retire.
ment OF Premier Raymond Poincare
France has lost her most valuable post
war leader. For to Poincare must be
given credit largely for Frances marvel
GUS recovery from a currency debacle of
major proportions.
When he took control Of the govern
ments the franc was performing breath
/ taking gyrations daily. 1t dropped from
| the old value of around 10 cents to 2
CCDtS. Al was ntducu IUT Tie DOIUOIIl-
less pit, like the old German mark.
Frances whole financial structure
was sorry spectacle Of political and
financial Incompetence.
Poincare changed all this. He brought
order out Of chaos, fought every cred
| itor Of temporarily. built up huge sur
! pluses of credit reserve In other prin-
cipal money centers in the world and,
II the truth be really told, came out
-.
substantial way than any other Of the
| major countries Of Europe.
France is an importing country
that Is its tendency Is to buy more
| than 1t sells. So the importance Of
building up credits abroad can scarcely
be overemphasized.
Its record In foreign trade for the
first half Of 1929 shows an adverse bal
ance of more than five times as big as
| in the preceding year. z. A. MaSuret
! reports from the Paris Office Of the
United States Department Of Commerce
that Frances adverse visible balance in
foreign trade for the first half amounts
to 5.9l2 000, 900 francs. as against 948,-
600 900 francs in 1928. The excess Of
imports over It's exports for the entire
year of 1928 amounted to only 2,l0l,-
900 900 francs
Putting 1t another way, the figures
| value of imports this year over last
year for the first six months and 20
per cent in the quality Of merchandise
| imported.
its exports. on the other hand. de-
clined per cent in value and AZ per
cent in quality.
So Frances efforts during the next
decade will be spent in expanding her
invisible" exports-that Is, upon
| h,,;lA;pv ,,yN %hoea nraditc IN industry
and banking which will enable her to
pay for the surplus Of her purchases
| abroad over her sales abroad.
In a nutshell, this is the big problem
of France-in the field Of business.
what is the job of the Federal Trade
Commission" asks Kentucky reader
of this column.
1t would take a column to reply to
this query, for the Federal Trade Com
mission Is doing an entirely different
! kind of a job now than 1t did 10 years
| ago.
But let me give an illustration Of one
! task it did this week. A cigar manu-
! facturer who makes his cigars in an
/ using the label Tampa, Fla" on all
his cigars. for this Florida city Is Amer
ica's cigar center.
The Federal Trade Commission COM
planned to this manufacturer that such
a label was a deliberate misrepresenta-
ton and could not be allowed.
! So the manufacturer has just signed
! a stipulation with the commission
agreeing to cease and desist from in
| Guiding in the label for his cigars
the words Tampa. Fla" either indie
/ pendently or in connection with other
words, so that they will imply that his
, cigar Is made in Tampa, Fla.
| Every week scores of such decisions
are reached without resorting to ex-
pensive litigations to enforce DEGREES.
Such work naturally receives the
unanimous support of all responsible
advertising agencies in the United
| States.
But the real work of the commission
is something far bigger than this. Some
day soon I will write a special story
about it.
The Federal Reserve system COM
piles each month statement OF the
volume of business done by the de-
partment stores of the United States
and compares it with preceding years.
To be exact, in making the compila-
ton the Federal Reserve receives con-
| fidential information from 523 depart
ment stores located in 229 cities.
For the first seven months Of this
! year the sales in the aggregate were
5 per cent larger than for the first
seven months Of 1928. For July the
increase in the aggregate over last
years July was also per cent.
Among the larger cities showing an
increase in sales were San Francisco,
Kansas City and Richmond. Chicago
| ~~S pocf0y, i,,cf about hold their 0uI1