Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1933-04-12

Propaganda for cancellation of the European debts
owed to the United States was launched as far back as
1920 and has been continuing ever since, according to
Arthur R. Robinson, United States senator from Indiana,
who writes convincingly on the debt subject in the cur
rent issue of the National Republic. In describing >the
methods of the propagandists, Senator Robinson says in
part:
"In the drive for cancellation we have seen the execu-
ton of several well defined methods of attack. Europe
first intimated that we should be the great idealists we
had shown ourselves in lending the money and be a good
fellow and forget about the debts. But America with
huge expenses of running the government was not so
anxious to be a good fellow. We could not tell our thous-
ands of bond holders to be good fellows and forget about
their claims for payment.
"Since we were not destined to be motivated by such
Understanding altruism, Europe began to abuse and Will
fly US. They abused us in the press, in the street, and in
bitterly satirical cartoons. But abuse got them nowhere
even if it is continuing. What was the next attack tried
by the cencellationists?
After Germany had paid until she could pay no more,
France and Britain made a gesture in what has come to
be known as the Lausanne agreement, whereby the Ger
man indemnity was to be reduced ninety per cent. This
sounded well at the time it was announced but it devel-
oped later that there was a joker in the gesture. France
and Britain had entered into a gentleman's agreement,
the terms of which provided that the Lausanne agree
ment should become effective only in the event America
could be induced to reduce the foreign debts in the same
amount, namely, ninety per cent. OF course, the debtor
nations attempt to link PREPARATIONS with war debts.
''This condition is unsound. In the first place, there
was no such idea in the minds of the high contracting par
ties when the agreement was entered into. In the second
place, PREPARATIONS exacted from Germany represent war
indemnities demanded by conquerors from a vanquished
people, while the obligations due this country from Eu-
ropean nations represent money loaned which they prom
lsed to pay back on demand. In the third place, America
did not participate in dividing the spoils Of war. Repair
ations is entirely the business Of Europe, but Indebtedness
due this country from European nations is very much
our business.
"Altruism and abuse having failed, the new approach
begins. They now appeal to our greed. We are in the
midst of a worldwide depression and want to get out.
Our debtors have a ready solution; cancel all war debts
and, p%resto-the world will be rolling merrily along back
to prosperity.
IF it were but that, perhaps prosperity would be worth
the price but the cold facts are that it simply isn't true.
Thus cancellation if offered as a magic solution and with
the temper of the world awaiting any sort of panacea It'll
is no wonder that this thesis has some followers. The
amazing thing is that so many of our leading publicists
and usually well balanced journalists have been taken in
by this specious logic. Let us examine the facts.
"We are told that insistence on debtor nations fulfill
ing their obligations will cause a world economic COLLAPSE.
| fear that world collapse is another phase in the new
lexicon of ~highbrow economics that will not stand tbel
test of logic"