Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-31
DEBT SETTLEMENT
CRISIS AWAITED
Return of Conterees After
Easter Recess May Decide
Entire issue.
BY LELAND STOWE.

By Radio to The Star.
PARIS, March 30.-Easter, still far
from having brought the reperations
experts to the tranquility and paeons OF
unanimous Joy usually associated with
this season, has brought. them to a
parting of the ways To express mat
tiers with restraint, the delegates of the
Young commission adjourned Tor an
Easter recess with their deliberations In
a very critical state.
The Easter week end could come at
nd more opportune moment. 1t gives
such tired mediatorS as Young, Morgan
and Stamp a much needed breathing
spell.
Likewise, it affords the experts few
days of happy relaxation after q week
wherein it has appeared the delegates
were in a virtual deadlock over what
Germany shall pay. The gap between
the allied and German figures is stu
extremely large, both as to amount OF
ainuities and to duration. AS yet the
Germans have shown no signs OF &C
ceding to the raising by over several
hundred million marks per year ana
by 10 or 20 more years to where 1t
might even remotely be possible the
French and Belgians would accept.
On the other side, the allies. par
ticularly the French and Belgians, have
revealed sharp disappointment and
strong Discrimination to cut their figures
further Thus the experts conference
enters its eighth week with its fate
hanging very delicately in the balance.
If a deadlock does not actually exist
and things may even be as bad as tnat,
although it is carefully screened by the
few leaders in the know-it is certainly
lust around the corner with unpleasant
menaces all realize only too well.
Crisis Expected MOmentarily.
If the crisis has not yet been reached,
nevertheless it may come any day. This
was the situation when Good Friday
put a temporary end to the negotiations,
and this situation the experts will face
a few days hence, when they reconvene.
It. hardly seems possible such state OF
affairs can run on without a decision,
one way or the other, for more than
another week or two.
First, it may be regarded as certain
that Herr Schacht will have to increase
his offer of what Germany will pay.
Second, it is highly probable that the
French and the Belgians will have to
make a further reduction of what they
Will accept for reconstruction costs. To
the neutral observer it seems almost
to- be taken eventually if the conference
issto succeed. But it must be recorded
that as yet there is no indication that
either one or the other is happening.
Young Is Arbiter.
In other words, the allies and German
experts. like two giant stays, have their
horns locked fast, and both are push
ing with every ounce without appearing
to gain any perceptible ground. Young
stands aside as the arbiter-in fact, the
whole American delegation is in the
same role-trying to persuade first one,
then the other, to yield few inches OF
terrain.
The last week however, has only
served to demonstrate the tremendous
dificulty of the task. One delegate re-
marked the other day that the chances
OF success seemed to be only about to
g. or even f. It is hard to see that
these odds have lessened to any nota-
bic degree, and for this reason the
Easter recess assumes genuine i'm
portance.
Either Schacht and some others viii
return a few days from now ready to
make real concessions, or they will re-
turn to refuse stubbornly to make any
whatsoever. Everything hinges on
WHICH Oh THESE lWO dIIICuOco - oOOPVSN'
q Press Accuses Schacht.
Meanwhile there is apparent grow
ing impotence in the French press
which so long has been remarkably
discreet. Now the Paris newspapers
openly charge Schacht with trying to
dive a wedge between the allies and
With scheming to deprive the war vic
TINS of all restitution for their deyaS-
tated regions.
Why, demands the press, referring to
the international settlement bank,
should the experts continue to build a
house when no one knows what will be
lodged therein? Or, in the words OF
Pertinax, "All this garniture empha-
sizes the absence of roast beef" There
creeps in also an occasional note Of
criticism of Americans for allowing the
conference to go so far without i'm
pressing on Schacht that he Is the man
upon whom it devolves to make an
offer.
Thus the exterior atmosphere of the
experts conference has changed to one
Of uneasiness and anxiety and some
discrimination; no one knows what
trumps the calm, smiling Chairman
Young has up his lengthy sleeves. 1t
may be well presumed that he still has
some. What is apparent to all is that
the time has now come when they must
very soon be played. The negotiations
crisis will come swiftly-possibly within
the next seven days-but its outcome
remains far from certain.
(Cnnvrirhf. 1000