The Washington times., 1931-10-23
SENATE WALL
DOOMSHOPE
OFPAR|S
ParIeys With HooVers to Run
Gamut of World Irritants;
Gold Called 2.Power Affair
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can viewpoints will be materially
altered.
Neither Premier Laval nor
President Hoover would admit
having a definite program to Of
fer the other today.
The Frenchman merely said he
was here as the guest Of the
American Government to discuss
world problems. adding:
81 expect all Of them will be
discussed and some Of them set
tIed.'
Administration spokesmen simply
said there was no program and
the discussions would be 1ntor-
NAL. In this M. Laval concurred.
He described his pending conver-
sations as "a tete-a.tete."
Consultative Pact"
It was made evident, however,
that the thought uppermoSt in
the premier's mind is to win over
the United States to the old idea
Of entering into security pact"
either through the agency origi-
nally proposed by Woodroy Will
son or by implementing the Kel-
logg-Briand pact for the outlawry
of war.
This could be accomplished by
the device known as Q "cOn-
sultative pact" in which the
signatOry nations would agree to
consult among themselves to
determine the aggressOr in the
event Of war.
Given such a guarantee, the
French are prepared to make
material concessions in the way
of disarmament and reparations.
without it, there is believed to
be scant chance that France will
concede anything in these mat
terS.
0OA~OG OVSA6WS 4A NNSJ
Senate leaders have made it
clear, however, to President
Hoover that any such pact is
foredoomed to rejection.
Ten years ago the Senate For
eign Affairs Committee rejected
without even the formality Of
vote the security pact to which
President Wilson agreed at Yer
sailles. More recently, the SEN
ate has declined even to consider
putting teeth" into the Kellogg
BRAND pact.
Upon that point Senate opin-
ion is adamant. as President
Hoover knows. He had a two
hour conference with Senator
Borah (R) of Idaho Just prior
to the arrival Of the premier in
Washington.
There remains then as the most
promising aspects of the Hoover
Laval conferences an agreement
on continuing the German debt
moratorium beyond next June
and an agreement restricting and
regulating the flow of gold be-
tween France and the United
States.
Debt Extension Sure
AS regards the extension of the
moratorium, the institution of
which caused resentment in
France. there is a feeling that this
will have to be done anyway,
whether Premier Laval agrees to
it in Washington or not. Opinion
is well-nigh unanimous that Ger
many cannot resume her repara-
tions payments next June.
And no one thinks that if Ger.
many does not resume her pay
ments to the allies. they will re-
sumo their payments to the United
States or to each other.
Thus an extension Of one, two,
or three years is regarded as in
evitable, irrespective of the CONVEX
Sations here.
TwO-POwer Affair
The gold issue concerns only
the United States and France,
which between them possess ap-
proximately IS per cent Of the
worlds supply.
In recent weeks, Europe, princi-
pally France, has withdrawn some
$500, 100000 gold from New York,
which has been interpreted and
criticised in come quarters as ian
attack on the dollar"
The withdrawal has made no
appreciable dent in the American
supply, but if long continued, it
might cause some embarrassment
to American finance.
No great difficulty is expected
IN reaching an agreement about
gold movement. for the United
States still possesses about twice
the French reserve.
Fencing With the Press
Prior to initiating his converse
tionS with President Hoover and
members of the Cabinet, Premier
Laval parried questions concern
ing his mission.
Facing so newspaper correSpon-
dents. he declared his mission to
the United States was to better
Franco-Amerjcan relations and at
tempt to solve some Of the prob
lens so sorely besetting the world.
Were economic questions upper.
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