The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-07-20
By SIR WALTER LAYTON

By SIR WALTER LAYTON
 Copyright 1888, by United Press)
 London, July 20.-(UP)-The first session of the World Economic Conference. which is tc adjourn next week. has been more success fui in establishing points of diff ference between the policies of the different nations than in working out an agreed basis of cooperation between them.
 Indeed, the three powers most intimately concerned have taken it in turns to veto every proposal which might have been the nucleus of an agreement.
 First, President Roosevelt refused even to consider proposals for temporary stabilization of curren- cfes. put up to him by the gold countries and Great Britain.
 In his reply he urged the con- ference to proceed to many other items on it's agenda. Two lines of approach seemed particularly promising to American opinion. The first related to the freeing of international trade from the re- strictions to which it had been subjected. The other, more close- ly related to the domestic program upon which the president has set his heart, consisted of Q proposal to arrange a simultaneous program of expansion inside each country.
 The first of these two proposals, however, was vetoed by the French. The gold countries de- clared themselves ready to go g long way in removing quotas and excessive tariffs, but only if curren- cies which are now fiuctuating, and preeminently the dollar. were stabilized. So long as they were exposed to the risks of deprecia- ton. however, they were unable to abandon any of their economic ''defenses."
 On the other proposal there seemed some prospect of agree ment. Neither France nor Great Britain was prepared to follow America in full on the program of her infiationary adventures, but the French professed themselves willing to undertake program of public works which, by stimu- lating enterprise and expanding the internal purchasing power of France, would help to remove the defiationary pressure which French policy hitherto has tended to ex- ert.
 There are many reasons why Great Britain should also have welcomed the idea of simultan- eous program of public works ex- penditure. The British government frequently had expressed a wish to see a rise in prices. but was un- willing to resort to imitation for that purpose. Public works schemes present a method of rais- ing prices and stimulating enter prise without deliberately depre-, ciating currency. Furthermore. If the gold countries were in this way expanding demand. 1t would be possible for British prices to rise without a further fall in the value of the pound in terms of gold cur- rencies.
 Now, however. it was the turn of the British government to inn pose a veto. Through the mouth of Walter Runciman, president of the Board of Trade. on Thursday last. they expressed the opinion that public works would be waste full and inadvisable. They declared they could render no assistance to an international plan and would not even sit on a committee to discuss the matter. Though the prime minister since has explained that this only referred to pro- posal that England should lend money for public works to central Europe, the speech left the impress sion that we do not seriously in- ted to take active steps to raise prices of increase demand. This speech destroyed the last chance of obtaining any substantial result from the present session of the conference.
 The conference thus will adjourn without having been able to agree upon more than q few unrelated