The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-07-31
BY sIR WALTER LAYTON

i BY SIR WALTER LAYTON \ Copyright 1888 By United: Press) " London, July 31 - U.P) - l Achievements of the first session ! of the world economic conference N the high hopes entertained when 1t
 was decided to summon it.
 When nothing has been done to
 promote the stability of foreign \ exchanges, lower tariffs, remove
 other restrictions on trade or al- N leviate the general burden of in- H of detail on which agreement has
 been reached appear insignificant.
 The conference was called to re- | build the foundations of the inter-
 national monetary system, restore | international trade and draw up a
 program of cooperation in defeat- II ing the depression. At the first ses-
 sion 1t has done none of these | things.
 | A sense of disappointment must
 not, however, blind us to what act
 ualIy has been accomplished at
 London during the last eight weeks
 for the assembled statesmen have
 not been idle nor has all the work
 been fruitless. The reports publish
 ed at the final session deal with
 minor matters and are mostly in-
 conclusive, but here and there they incorporate agreements which re-
 present definite advances. The report of the monetary and
 financial committee, for example,
 includes two valuable resolutions
 which are largely due to the work
 done by the bank for internation-
 al settlements.
 The first of these makes several suggestions concerning gold reser-
 vations which central banks should
 observe, including a proposal to fix
 the minimum ratio at 25 per cent,
 thus easing the situation in coun-
 tries whose reserves are depleted. The second embodiej certain principles which should guide cen tral banks in administering the gold standard system - indicating, for example, conditions in which credit should be expanded or con- tracted in order to stabilize the general level of prices.
 It Is an attempt to define what may be called "the rules of the gold standard game" and it repre- sents a greater degree of agree ment among central banks than Ievef had been achieved before. The report of the economic com mission includes an agreement on |conGitions that should be observed in any international scheme for restriction of production. N Compared to the far reaching problems of economic policy on the agenda prepared by the com miEyion experts these are mere tit-
 bits, but they are nonetheless valu- able.
 The greatest success of the con- ference-though it sounds like a |paradox-were not recorded in re- ports, for they occurred outside the meetings although they were un- |doubtedly due to the fact of the |conference and the presence in London of so many statesmen of Hall countries of the world. hurdle was surmounted June 15, without creating fresh i'll feeling and friction is one of these. Again, Maxim Litvinoff, the Rus sian foreign minister and chief dele gate used the opportunity of the conference to score a double suc- cess.
 He secured the resumption of |commercial relations between Rus sia and Great Britain which had l |been broken off in April by the |British and Russian embargoes, and negotiated treaties of non- aggression with most of the neigh bors of Russia.
 Moreover the tariff truce which was concluded before the opening of the conference and will remain l In force as long as the conference l Is in being must also be counted success, for at least 1t put brake
 for the time being upon tariff in- creases.
 The conference also has been most valuable in another direction, for 1t helped to transform the basis of European politics from one of political rivalry arising from the
 war to one of mutual economic in- | terest.
 At every previous conference the.
 division of opinion bad been be- tween the victors and vanquished of 1914-1918. In this one the group
 Ing has been changed by bringing l