Evening star., 1933-12-23

Comments on the December Is de-
| fault of most of the nations against
which this country holds claims for war
debts are milder than on previous occa-
sions when payments were passed. 1t IS
| observed that Finland appears to be
| shining example for other nations, but
! opinion is divided as to whether the
obligations should be considered dead
issue.
1T caused hardly a furry of excite
ment or interest" observes the Butte
Montana Standard. adding that ''Eu-
rope is now openly assuming that the
debts are a dead issue, since default
! has become general and the token pay
mentS are little more than farce" The
Providence Bulletin is convinced that
"our European debtors have come to
the conclusion that so far as they are
| concerned war obligations are an aca-
demic question" Admitting that Con-
gress will have much to say" the Bull
letin concludes that cit will be like blow
/ ing down the wind"
Perhaps when some measure Of eco
nomic sanity returns to the diSordered
world" suggests the Chicago Daily News,
ing t the 15 debts "tee equitabiy-' lit bly, II The Daily
News ADDS that Americans realize that
they will never receive the full amounts
and fear they may get nothing, but
there remains some hope that the debtor
nations will find means to pay enough
to warrant the United States in writing
off the obligations, with friendly feeling
on both sides"
I'VE should have had the common
sense" in the opinion of the Houston
Chronicle, ito understand that we could
not force payment of these debts. And
we should have been able to under
stand that their payment was an i'm
possible thing under current world
conditions. We might have used them
as lever to help the world back to
recovery, to advance the cause of dis
armament, to recover considerable sums
| for our own Treasury. But because our
people were misled by jingoes we have
| insisted on an impossible course, one
which now has led to a complete loss
OF the sums owing us, to failure Of the
various international conferences, and
| to strain on the world financial sys-
tenn which does harm to every nation" :"
| Quoting French newspaper, which
declares that Americans don't realize
| it. but the debts are dead" the Omaha
World-Herald observes: ''There are
others dead, too. Ten million men, in
cluding thousands of Americans, are
dead. There are dead hopes. Hopes
that died with the first angry belch of
the first big gun. Hopes run through
with bayonets, smothered by caving
dugoutS, suffocated by poison gas. Dead
ambitions and dead vast possibilities.
This world is strewn with the grotesque
senias cut doWn @ at ead the ower Brains
that might have remade and redeemed
humanity, smeared across the pock-
/ ;,, WY hIaOd
| What else is war but death? What
does it ever leave in its CHASTITY wake
but death? 1t blights and murders
whatever comes in contact with it
life, money, talent, faith-it makes no
difference. War kills them all"
"The country and Congress must
face the fact" according to the Phila-
delphia Evening Bulletin, that re-
sumption of war-debt payments accord
ing to the terms Of the various fund
ing agreements is not likely at any time
in the future"
voicing earnest praise for Finland,
which paid without word" the Gin
cinnati Times-Star offers the opinion:
Though the sum involved is not big
in the total of the American budget.
it means a good deal to the Films
Theirs is an economically poor country
which has been as hard hit as any dur
| ing the depression. Finlands one big
industry, the production of timber for
export, has suffered from disastrous
price declines, the handicap of tariffs
and quota restrictions and the compe-
tition of the Russian timber industry
! Finland is at least as badly off eco
nomically as Estonia, which defaulted,
or as her other Baltic neighbors, Latvia
end Lithuania. which made token pay
- or rcr9l 49, 80 mn reSrootiuoIry