Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-22
M. Laval in Washington.

Washington is privileged today to
welcome the prime minister Of France
or, as he is to be designated officially,
the president Of the Council Of Min
listers. M. Laval comes to this coun-
try at the invitation Of the United
States Government for four days of
conference with President Hoover, Sec
rotary StimSon and other members of
the administration. Pains have been
taken on both sides to divest the con-
Versations Of any cut-and-dried char
acter: There is no fixed agendum. No
binding agreements are to be, or can
be, made. The occasion is to partake
exclusively of the nature of a candid
and thorough discussion of problems
common to France, to the United
States and to the world
AS the two powers upon which cir
cumstances have conspired to thrust
financial primacy, France and America
have grave responsibility at the pres
ent crisis in international relations.
Possessing between them some three
quarters of all monetary gold, they
come near to having the ability to lay
down the economic law of the globe
Their joint adherence to the gold
standard is of itself a stabilizing fac
tor of far-reaching influence If gold
were the only issue which NJ. Laval
had to thresh out with his American
hosts their task would be simple But
1t is only one of a tangled skein Of
issues intertwined with gold
President Hoover puts disarmament
IN the forefront Of the worlds pressing
problems. Could it be solved on broad
scale, he holds that the key to eco
nomic rehabilitation would be in sight.
France Is not hostile on principle to
the idea OF disarmament Maintenance
OF her formidable war machine imposes
upon the French a burden Of which
they would gladly be rid IN part if not
in whole. They have price at which
they will demobilize their military
establishment. That price is security
in some other form, either from the
League Of Nations, to which France has
submitted proposition to that identical
effect, or from a group of individual
countries. No such group would be
complete, in French estimation, that
did not include the all-powerful United
States.
Another sine qua non for dis
armament, from the French viewpoint,
is security in particular against Ger
many. The Reich today could offer
only poor fight against the much
more extensively armed Republic But
millions Of Germans-not all of them
Hitler's FascistS-incessantly demand
revision of the Treaty of Versailles,
including drastic reductions in repara-
tons. France considers the Treaty of
Versailles a closed incident. She frowns
upon such German aspirations as the
abolition of the Polish corridor. She
can envisage no security for France
from Germany In such mood.
And as in all these controversial
questions, each of them bristling with
difficulties, there is the general CUES
ton of intergovernmental war debts,
payments on which are suspended for
a year under the existing Hoover
moratorium. Is the moratorium to be
renewed? Will Europe's annual stipends
to the United States Treasury be
resumed? Has capacity to pay" not
become for many of our debtors a
demonstrate incapacity to pay?
These are the battling matters which
await the attention of French and
American statesmen on the Potomac
this week. They will need the wisdom
of a Solomon to grapple with them In
any hope Of adjustment. The will to
do so IS at least at hand M. Laval
brings to America a reputation for
open-mindedness, as well as for political
sagacity and high-minded patriotism.
He will deal in Washington with men
OF the same caliber. Craftsmanship
faces an unparalleled opportunity.