Evening star., 1931-06-23
CHAMBER
HOLDS PLANS FATE
Could Force Ministerial Crisis
as One Way to Delay Ap-
provaI of Debt Proposal.
CONTINUED From First page.)

(Continued From First Page.)
yer said "all." Under the terms of his
proposal all governments owing debts
to other governments would suspend
the payment of all installments falling
due between now and June next year.
The number of nations concerned is
considerable. AS a result Of the treaty
OF peace, Germany is making payments
of reparations to several nations. AS a
result Of postwar settlements Of Ger
many's foes among themselves. having
to do with reparations and also with
moneys advanced by larger allies to
smaller ones, there Is an extremely in
trtcate tangle Of annual crosS-paymentS.
It involves Germany, Great Britain, the
United States, France, italy, Belgium,
Austria, Greece, Poland and eight other
smaller European nations. In the COM
plex web, several nations are at once
debtors and also creditors. To deter
mine, as to any one nation, whether the
waving Of amounts receivable would
balance the waiying or amounts pay
able would be q mathematical problem.
France Faces Difficulty.
President Hoover cut through the
whole tangle by proposing to lift for
one year the entire fabric of inter-
| government debts" which, he said,
weighs heavily in the midst of this
depression" All the nations concerned
have either assented. or 1t is practically
known that they will, excepting France.
For Frances hesitation there Is much
consideration. She suffered most from
the war, and in the operation Of the
Hoover proposal she would make a
larger net financial sacrifice than any
other nation excepting the United
States.
France, according to newspaper dis
patches from Paris, raises tentatively a
distinction between two classifications
OF the annual sums she receives from
Germany. One, speaking roughly, is the
sum which France keeps for herself to
compensate her for the restoration of
her devastated territory. This sum is
described in the war settlement as
unconditional" meaning that Ger
many must pay each inStallment when
due without fail. The other annual sum
received from Germany by France is,
speaking very loosely. that which she
transmits to the United States and
Great Britain to repay her war debts
to us and Britain. This Is described in
the Young plan of war settlement as
conditional" meaning that under the
Young plan Germany, upon her own
Initiative, has the privilege Of post
poning annual payments for three years.
Would Accept Terms.
Frances attitude toward the Hoover
proposal. according to unoficial in
formation, is that she would be willing
tional'' payments from Germany, but
not as respects the unconditional"
payments. II this should turn out
actually to be Frances official answer
France, speaking roughly, would merely
be waving only those payments from
Germany which Germany has q right
to suspend anyhow under the Young
plan: France, again speaking very
roughly, would merely fail to receive
a certain sum from Germany and, in
turn, would fail to transmit a roughly
equivalent sum to the United States
and Great Britain. France, speaking
loosely, would be making no new ma
tertal contribution to the spirit Of
emergency, but merely acting in accord
with existing stipulations in the Young
plan and the debt settlements.
Up to the time this dispatch is
written the information from France
about her possible action has been
chiefly newspaper surmiSe. Official
answer will come later. It may be that
French government leaders may feel
obliged to take this position about the
Hoover proposal because of apprehen-
sion that the French Parliament might
not indorse complete accentance of the
American proposal. If so, it would
| unhappily result that the American
Congress would not accept the Sug-
gested French modification Of the
Hoover proposal.
Condition Is Critical. ~
On the other hand, the better hope
Is that the French leaders may convince
their Parliament In the same way that
President Hoover has convinced the
leaders Of both parties in our Congress.
Much depends on the degree to which the
sense Of emergency weighs. There was
last week among leaders in France, as
well as in every other European country,
a spirit almost Of terror over the Inn
minence Of economic and social collapse
in Germany and the consequences that
would result throughout all Europe. It
sages to washington. President Hoover's
action had already diSsipated much of
the spirit Of crisis. A danger averted
Is often mtnimized in the memory of
even week later. Nevertheless, the
more hopeful fact is that there are
strong men in all the European capi-
tails who will put their shoulders be-
hind the Hoover plan because they are
convinced that acceptance of It, in the
words Of Paul Warburg, may mark
the turning point in the, economic dis
organization menacing the entire world. -
Copyright. 1917