The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-12-10
BY WILLIAM PHILIP SIMMS
Scripps-Howsrd Foreign Editor


Scripps-Howzrd Foreign Editor
WASHINGTON, Dec. 1O.-Higb
above Europes swelling chorus de-
handing war debt revision or can
collation. can be heard the voice of
congress.
mo revision without adequate
compensation for the American tax
payer it answers in a chorus of
Us own. Uncle Sam is as far from
being a Simple Simon as he is from
being a Shylock."
This attitude lately has been for
tined. rather than weakened, by
The British and French position. The
continued silence of London and
Paris on disarmament and related
phases of world recovery is regarded
here as deliberate, and ominous
rather than accidental.
Even those leaders who favor con-
ditional reductions or cancellation
are emphatic in their disavowal of
The Franco-British thesis that the
war debt is the seat of all the
worlds ailments. The trouble is far
more complicated than that. Other
and worse diseases are eating at
It's vitals.
War Drums ThrOb on
Inc war drums which never for a
moment have ceased to beat in Eu-
rope and in the Orient since the
armlstice are regarded as far more
disturbing to the world and a much
greater hindrance to recovery, than
The unpaid war debts.
intrigue and suspicion, fear and
nate, pickering and threats still
dominate the rival armed camps of
the old world. France and Ger
many have been and still are at
daggers drawn. France and Italv
are snarling at each other across
their heavily fortified frontier.
Italy is digging in across the Adri-
attic, in her puppet state of Albania,
a mere bridge-head, Yugo-Slavia
charges, for purposes of invasion.
Germany and Poland repeatedly
have seemed on the verge of war
over the Polish corridor, and every
chancellory in Europe is convinced
that sooner or later new war
there is inevitable.
At Moscow, Communist leaders
are certain in their own minds that
1t is merely question of time be-
fore the Soviet Union will have to
hight European coalition for it's
very existence. Russia, even now.
is Alarming herself, night and day.
Japan on War Path
In the far east Japan is on the
rampage. China is in peril of
breaking up. Manchuria has been
invaded and virtually annexed by
Japan, in violation of the covenant
Of the League of Nations, the KEEL
logg pact and the nine-power
treaty. And Britain and France,
sworn to uphold The peace pacts,
have stood by and permitted it to
go on.
All this, leaders here insist, is a
far greater blight than the war
debts. These might be wiped out
bodily, they declare; yet, if that
were all, the effect on the world
hardly would cause ripple.
Let Europe and the world stop
pickering and come to some live
and-let-live understanding, they
urge. Let them take steps to put
an end to these follies. Let the
world reduce ornaments, back up
the peace machinery, and start to
work along constructive lines.
Let the world help put the bill
lion peoples of Asia on their feet,
instead of exploiting them. These
people are the greatest potential
market in the world today. For
every dollar the masses of China,
India and that part of the earth
improve in their scale of living, a
new billion-dollar market will be
born.
Other Factors Involved
If the world will unite on such
a program, congressional leaders
say, Uncle Sam would likely will
ingly make debt revision part Of
that plan.
Arms reduction, abatement of
war psychology, revision of world
economics, restoration of world
commerce, and reduced intergov-
ernmental debts are seen as going
together. Such plan would have a
chance to restore the world to nor
NAL.
War debts cancellation alone
would not accomplish the desired
result. American taxpayers would
have to foot the colossal bill and
get nothing out of it. There is far
too little oil in mere war debts re-
duction to calm such a troubled sea-
Let Europe come squarely for
ward, leaders urge, and play the
game. But let her come with clean
hands. She must not come demand
ing cancellation of the debts she
incurred in the last war while she
is preparing for another.
The End