Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-13
SNOWDEN PREDICTS
/ BRITISH DEFICITS.
Chancellor Warns Parlia-
ment of $500, 600, 900 Short
age in Present Year.
BY JOHN F. SINCLAIR.

mons has had few parallels in British
history.
Mr. Snowden told the House, alread!
sobered by his previous remarks, thai
Great Britain is face to face with g
huge deficit, that British business is Sc
bad that vast and disagreeable measure:
must be taken to maintain budgetary
equilibrium and restore industry"
How this pale-faced invalid stands
I'D under the terrific strain of Office is
q mystery In two months he must
outline the government fiscal policy fol
the new year. Either he must secure
more revenue out of British income to
pay the increasing cost of government
or he must cut expenses draStically al
down the line. Which will it be? Per-
haps it will be combination of both.
The British government deficit this
year will be about $200,o0O,000 and
$250,000,0 900 next year. 1t looks bad
and no one in Great Britain seems to
want Mr.. Snowden's job, although
there are many critics. Next to that OF
Prime Minister Macdonald, Mr.. Snow
den's task is the hardest at this time in
the British Empire.
Yet the little chancellor gives no in
timation that either his health or his
determination is diminished, and until
one or the other does, Philip Snowden
will continue to control British finan-
cial destiny.
Preparations Question.
Germany is not going to declare a
moratorium on her reparation pay
ments-not until "the last dog is hung.
This was evident by the 2-to-1 vote Of
the Reichstag yesterday against the
inn declaration
of a moratorium under the Young plan
and asking also for immediate steps to-
ward a revision of the reparation pay
ments.
But what the Reichstag did yesterday
that is significant was in passing, by
q, vote of 314 to 46, a motion which ia
vored opening of negotiations 1mmedl-
ately with the signatories OF the Young
plan in the hopes OF obtaining re-
vision.
Again the PREPARATION question rises up
to plague the allies.
Bread Prices.
When Ethelbert Stewart, chief Of the
Bureau of Labor Statistics OF the
United States Department OF Labor,
told the Senate committee that the
total cost of ingredients and labor go
ing into a loaf of bread is a little
more than cents he started the dis
cussion all over again as to why bread
prices remain so high.
Frederic H. Frazier, chairman OF the
General Baking Corporation, one OF
the largest baking concerns In the
country, did not hold out much hope
that the price of bakers loaves would
drop much further unless perhaps the
housewives go on strike and bake tnen
own bread and cakes.
And that's really the answer-houSe-
wives could break the strongest bread
trust ever conceived If they ever de-
cided to do their own baking. But
the probable answer is that it viii have
to be tackled from another angle, II
it is tackled at all, because the wives
parently have no intention OF doing so.
ShOrt-T Time Money.
Gates w. McGarrah, president OF
the Bank for international Settlements,
said in Paris recently that the bust
ness world is glutted with short-time
money; that it is a drug on the mar.
ket. No one wants it even at record
But long-term foreign loans are badly
needed. and these are exactly what the
world needs today.
1T hope that there may soon be such
a re-establishment of confidence In the
United States that our own country, IKE
France, may continue to play the neces-
country-that of supplier Of funds TO
sound foreign borrowers"
Mr.. McGarrah stated that the bank
for international settlements has al
ready authorized the investment OF
SOS. 900 600 in intermediate credits OF
from six months to two years maturity
to various foreign nations. He wants
to see several big banking houses enter
the same field, for he says the need Is
very great
This statement is worth needing, for
no creditor country can maintain its
leadership without loaning surplus funds
To those countries that want money.
And the United States today Is the
worlds greatest creditor Nation!
Tyranny of Gold.
THE time has come for a more cour-
ageouS attempt to master the tyranny OF
gold, and stop the fall in world prices,
says the new statesman Of London, In
discussing the gold standard of money.
Francis W. Hirst, former editor OF
the Economist Oondonj and the biog-
rapher of Thomas Jefferson, recently
declared that, based on the purchasing
power of gold in 1918 and at the present
time, British annual payments to the
IAOOgOOOtOOS
payments Of $3.50, 100000
"If we were repaying fairly TO our
American allies what they loaned 10
us we should be paying in interest
and principal not S165,0o0 900, but
S82, 500, 900 yearly" said this English
man.
Here Mr.. Hirst is referring primarily
to the drop in the price level to 30
per cent of what it was when the
United States sold the goods to Great
Britain.
At that time we received credit-not
gold-for the goods which we sold
These credits, due to the fact that
gold is now worth twice as much as
it was then, should mean, Mr.: Hirst
thinks, that the public debt to the
United States be cut in two.
Well hear plenty more on this SUBJ
ject before the question is finally set
tled
Robert Whitecar Of California struck
a responsive chord through the Nation
when he wrote the poem Begging FOL
Bread" Senator Norris of Nebraska hac
1t read into the Congressional Record.
Here are two verses:
Begging for bread-in plentiful land
Begging for bread-with trade in nj
hand,
Sound as a dollar in heart and in head
Ready for work and yet begging toi
bread.
Begging for bread-and not begginl
alone;
Now are they swollen to numbers un'
known,
Who weary the highways with heart
breaking tread,
And swarm through city streets-beg
ging for bread"
(Copyright, 1881, by North American News
paper Alliance.)
U. S. HARDWARE EXPORTS.
BY the Associated Press.
Exports from the United States O