Evening star., 1932-02-09
Former British Chancellor
Proposes AngIo-American
Effort to Aid Trade.

services upon the 1927 or 1928 level,
while making available sufficient cur
rency to maintain price stability was
urged by Mr. Churchill as the basis OF
his program. He was confident TINS
could be carried cut successfully by the
Federal Reserve Bank and the Bank
of England, acting in harmony under
the approval of their respective gov
ernments.
Speaking before an audience of 1900
representatives of the business and
professional world, including many
leaders of American industry and
finance, he pleaded for Anglo-Anerican
economy cooperation as necessary not
only to the interests of the two coun-
tries but to the preservation of the eX-
isting social and economic order against
the perils of Communism.
Praises Aid in Europe.
The former chancellor made his pro-
posal after a lengthy analysis of the
world economic situation in which he
attributed the internati tional depression
Ito reparations and war debts as the
root cause of the dislocatior in the
distribution of the worlds gold and
consequent defation, with all its at
tend9nt evils.
Mr.. Churchill defended the United
q, states against llle CulOES'll NiAo4 81 Va
b!ood-sucker." pointing out that lar
from extracting from Europe any great
tamounts in payments, this country
actually had poured billions of dollars
into European countries since the war
without which the financial structure
based upon war debts and reparatiorS
could not have been maintained. He
characterized as illusory any hope OF
future collection of international debts
without restoration of the normal pro-
cesseS of trade or great rise in prices,
but at the same time rejected the ldea
of a Reputation of debts by European
nations.
Great Britain and the United States
are the greatest creditor nations" Mr..
Churchill said we cannot afford to
countenance reputation, still less en-.
courage a situation in which 1t VIII
occur, by slapdash phrases. With care
End patience many frozen assets may
be thaWed and many values recreated,
I am not prepared to accept the ldea
that Germany can never pay anything
for war damage I am sure she cannot
pay anything now, and 1 do not see
Why at this moment We are called upon
to go further than that"
There is no room either for false
indignation against the United States,
or for false pity for Germany" he de-
clared as he proceeded to anaiyze the
economic and financial forces respon-
sib.e for the world crisis. The CRISIS,
he asserted, was due to the play OF IN
personal economic forces generated by
the attempts to collect war debts and
renarations in the face of artificlally
created trade barriers.
Mr.. Churchill warned that the pro-
cess of deflation, if permitted to con-
tinue long enough, "and not so very
long at that" would isolate the nations
one from the other, "as they were IN
medieval times would destroy inter-
national trade, lead to general re-
pudiation of debts through obvious in
ability of debtors and by debtor coun-
tries to pay, and reduce this faIr
modern world with all its knowledge
and science and measureless posSlbllltles
to the barbarism and barter OF the
Dark Ages
Confident of Plan.
Happily. the remedy is in our
hands" he continued There is still
time to arrest and reverse this hateful
process, to restore a fair standard OF
values throughout the world and to
bring back again the sunshine Whlcn
has been darkened by clouds Of human
fclly.
In my opinion, it would be sufficient
at this stage if two or three OF the
principal governments of the world were
to proclaim their intention of re-
validating commodities and services
upon. let us say. the 1927 or 1928 level;
and then if sufficient financial experts
were selected and told to devise steps
by which this should be done and the
form of international currency that
would be required to keep stable
standard of value thereafter, I do not
think you would be setting them an
impossible task. I expect they would
find that there were several ways of
accomplishing this purpose Cnce it was
clearly defined and authorltatlVely SET
forth.
Neither do I think there would be
great difficulty in procuring the agree
ment of a sufficient number OF powerful
nations to a workable plan.
7 expect that if once the English
speaking peoples made up their minds
and were agreed between themselves
upon a practical plan there would not
be very great difficulty in getting one
or two of the others to come in, too.
In fact, it seems to me there would be
a rush to join the board. At any rate,
there is where I would begin.
L would like to see the governments
of the United States and Great Britain,
through their agents, the Federal Re-
serve and the Bank of England, come
to the definite conclusion that COM
modities must be revaluated up to the
1927 or 1928 level and that thereafter
sufficient currency must be available to
provide a stable measure for prices.
You cannot waste time going around
to persuade everybody. If these two
were agreed it would not be long be-
. fore the Bank of France would wish
70 be included in their consortium.
But. anyhow. our two nations ii accord
would be quite powerful enough to re-
store to human society the enormous
benefits of which it is now deprived.
Plea for Cooperation.
"These are surely the times when
the English-speakiIig peoples should
keep closely together. On the whole,
they mean the same thing. Why
then, do we not act together more,
make r1ore plans in common? Why
do we stand gaping at one another?
If the world is to escape its mlserleS
there must be some strong central
nucleus of agreed and recognized au-
sthority at the Council Beard of Nations
ITO which, while it acts unseltlshly, due
.deference is shown.
: "There is. remember, another world
force, international Communism, CEN
tered, the armed and arming strength
of Russia. Is it not the duty, nay,
sthe appointed task, of the English
speaking peoples to stand between
Europe and Asia and the new tyranny?
To raise again the standards OF per-
'"sonal liberty, of enlightened liberalism,
of family home, faith in God upon
which the glory of mankind has been
erected? If so, the task is surely not
.4beyond our united strength.
above all, let us have good courage.
do not add to monetary defation the
Hfurther hideous dehation of panic and
despair.
"My confidence in the British En-
pire is only equaled by my confidence
in the United States. All the world
10 +I,a THO kinU nnOnleS