Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1934-06-14
National Topics Interpreted
by William Bruckart

at all. In the meanwhile, there was
q terrific bombardment of propaganda
from the borrowing nations and from
some of the misguided folks in our
own country calling for absolute can
collation.. But cancellation could not
win. 1t was impossible. So there fol-
lowed a lot of negotiations in which
commissions from foreign governments
came here and conferred at length
with our debt funding commission.
Settlements were eventually worked
out. The debts were funded. That is,
the debtor nations were given a long
time in which to pay. They were CIV
en- enormous concessions by our debt
commission in order to get some agree
ment for repayment of the various
loans. / know whereof speak re-
garding those concessions because 1t
happens that am the only newspaper
correspondent in Washington who re-
ported everyone Of the debt confer
ences, and l say unequivocally that
those funding settlements represented
on the average reduction of more
than one.third in the total amount
which the debtors contracted original
~ to pay.
Now, again we are in the midst of
new efforts to get something done in
the way of repay
D0dges ments. The foreign
Repayment nations are - not 't go 60,
be avoided. They put up the very
natural argument that obtains with
everyone who is in debt and who has
been hit on the chin by depression
conditions. They cannot raise the
money, so they say. To avoid de-
faults, some of the foreign nations
made what they called token payments
a year ago at this time. Some Of them
have offered token payments again.
But token payments amount to about
the same thing as when your friend
eats the apple and hands you the core.
1t was nice apple to begin with, and
the funding settlements were nice set
Elements when they were signed.
Frankly, l suspect that the United
States is never going to get more than
about 10 per cent of the total now
due. There win be plenty Of argu-
ments, propositions and counter prop
ositions, negotiations and hauling and
filling, and after awhile some of the
foreign governments will have sue
ceeded in creating enough public SEN
timent among their home people to
cause national action of the same
character as that taken by France a
year ago.
The condition as regards the foreign
debts owing the United States, 1 am
afraid, will be paralleled right here at
home by individual and corporation
and bank debts owing the federal gov
eminent. Many borrowers will run in
to hard luck, as they always have
done, and they will appeal to the poll
ticians to save them.
When those debts become a political
issue, it will be an issue too strong for
politicians to Withstand. They will
arise on the floors of congress and
weep about the plight of "those poor
people"
The special senate committee is get
ting under way with its inquiry into
the various indus
May Stir tries that manufac-
Up a Stink ture materials for
war, and it appears
now that it is headed into an investi-
cation that will disclose plenty Of
things that will cause a stink to arise
when the investigators have laid their
findings before the committee headed
by Senator Bye of North Dakota. I
spent couple of hours the other day
with one Of the wheelhorses command
ing the investigating force and It was
certainly his opinion that there are
things awaiting revelation that will
surprise the populace. He is conf
dent, as he said, that the country will
sit up and take notice of what the
committee Is preparing to bring to
light.
The evening was In the chief in
vestigator's office eight men were re-
ceiving their credentials and money
with which to start out on the trail.
They were headed for what amounts
to a raid on the files and books Of
some factory which the investigators
believed had been engaged in the man
ufacture Of war materials and which
they thought also had been engaged
in propagating information that would
cause couple Of foreign nations to
look with suspicion upon each other.
Suspicion between two nations is OBJ
viously prelude to more serious diff
ferences, and eventually war is the
result. The committee has started out
to expose such conditions, if they ex-
list, and the investigators are convinced
that things Of that sort are being prac.
ticed by some Of the makers of mu.
nitions.
have no way of knowing where the
investigators are going in their con-
tinuing effort, but from all indica-
tons they have orders to dig deep into
files and records to see what they can
find. They will come back to Wash.