Evening Star Newspaper, April 26, 1925, Page 53

France Can Pay Her Debt To America, Says Borah (Continved from First Page.). has been urged in certain quar- that the adjustment of the infe sDational debts should be passed upon is argued United States becomes a S the League Court. It that if the member of the court the league ¢all upon the court tion of this quest Visory power and r opinion as to wha and equig 3 could clain - an_advisory into not only ct, but the eq John Maynard economist and already ¢ the minds of Keynes, brilliant writer, advisory o) Kevnes ¥ s the d commercial, but politic views som ng chiefly the man power, and the power conditions States the considered acquisitions of the war were equitabl divided, it would not he a bad settl v the United States. 1 States desires is the money ts taxpayers loaned to the Gov- ment and which the in- * teresti Court s sume interpleac 1ould take j &sia would 1 pre- allowed to the allies. Ehe furnished man power almostequal to all ot herscombined. She mobilized at one time, 14,000,000 men, fighting over a front" of )0 miles. She lost 2,500,000 dead on the field of battle, 3,000,000 wounded, 2,000,000 tuken prisoners (one-half of died in prison), and, according to Llovd George, it her soldiers at s who saved civilization ¢ equities and & great many 1 the late war Which are being sadly overlooked in | these days In this debt discussion we are con- stantly reminded of Wwhich we had understood With reference to American history Upon reinvestigation we find our pre- Vious understanding correct. A dis- n Senator has proved absolute isfaction that, on sis of the loan made to us by ‘rance during the Revolutionary Wa and -the amount which he supposes Wwe did not repay, instead of France being indebted to us we are indebted to France. In other words, the con- tention is -that large amounts of the loan were unpaid and that that amount, together with interest upon the sume, would far more than offset the amount of the French debt. France Repaid By Colonies. The fact is that the United States peid every dollar of money loaned by the French government to the Amer- ican Colories during the Revolution- ary War and paid it, when all circum- stances are considered, with great promptness and at a rate of interest much higher than we have any inten. ton of charging the French govern ment. But all amounts wnich were loaned, or intended as a loan, were repaid and the Beaumarchais loan was overpaid by a very considerable sum and, as 1 already ted, with remarkable Winess. Scme dates will throw light on the transaction Cornwallis surrendered October, 1731 Lord North's government fell March France Now Fee would be a fair 1j The court | French loan s of the trans- the noted has outlined what is doubtless in se who would have nion upon gland the naval power | financial | cipal and of the inter fon is, if all facts and | which have been loaned them by the and all | King. 1 | But what | July, overnment | is e fc governments—and | ure: ue | the and thus settle her debt to|made in Holland the whom | 20, 1782, Preliminary articles of peace were signed November 3¢, 1782; the definite treaty of Paris was signed September 3, 1783. Fourteen days thereafter, to wit, on September 17, the French government ad- Iressed a letter to the President of the American Congress in which, among sther things, Con, as asked to \form the French government of ¢ | what measures were being taken complete the adjustment of Again on April 9 the French government addr letter to the President of which reads as follows Luzerne to the President of Congress, Annapolis, April 9, 1784. “Sir: I have the hon | municate to your Excellency : from a letter which I received from Count de Vergennes, dated the 24th of December last. “I received orders at the same time to inform his Majesty's Minister of the measures which have been taken by the United States relative to the payvment of portions of the prin of the sums make mention of por- | tions of the capital because, by the ms of the 16th of t millions is to begin rs after the peace, and it pedient to take onable meas- with regard to this subject. am also to inform my Court of | arrangements which have been | made for the payment of interest on the loan of five millions of florins 5th of Novem- ber, 1781, and for which His Majesty became rantee. 1 know the ef- forts of Congress to effect the dis- charge of the public debt, and their wish to fullfill thelr engagement and 1 consider it superfluous to recall to vour Excellency all the motives which combine to induce the United States to fulfill faithfully those which they | have contracted with ‘the King. 1 | confine myself to desiring you to en- {able me to dissipate the which may have been excited at my Court by ‘the delay in proceeding to funds to effect the payment of | this aebt “1 am, with respect, sir, &o. “LUZERNE."” | This letter may well be accepted a precedent. No exceptions were taken to this letter by the Congress or by the people of this country. It was not apparently regarded as harsh or rude. It was not deemed impolite or unfriendly in those days of simple and direct intercourse to say what was in your mind. No effort was made to avoid meeting the obligations according to the terms of the con- tract. The fact is, that promptly the French government asked for pay. ment, promptly as was possible under the circumstances the Colonies made settlement. And_ finally they paid every dollar of the loan which had been made to them by the French gov- ernment. fTo contend that any part of this loan was left unsettled or un paid is to contend against the plain, indisputable facts of history. This matter of the loan was a plain honorable engagement, and that kind of an engagement is quite s the engagement of a form, e justified in assuming obligation will be with abili; tion we three uneasiness sacred 1 treaty that the kept in accordance to keep it. Tha hall discuss next (Copyright cussion of the taxpavers will be- to, urticie 1o apvearin of The Sun ta; y Is Anxious, Disgusted and Depressed (Continued from First Page.) to affront a very large part of the nation which still remembers the war. Caillaux is inordinately ambitious; his restoration to civil rights was one of the opening acts of the radical-So- cialist government and it may be doubted if he can long survive pop- ular feeling or fail to bring down any ministry in which he sits. Briand’s case is rather different; it is the general notion that after a brief delay he will form a government of his own and that this government will be based upon the support from the nationalist and conservative wings in the Chamber, and that the So- .clalists will be ' gradually excluded. But evidently the situation is not yef ripe enough for such a combination That Painleve that he will make an early and inglorious failure and that by that time popular senti- ment will "be sufficiently roused to back the Senate in a new re: tance 1o the radical Chamber and even make an appeal to the country advis- able, is the general view. It Hindenburg should happen to be chosen in Germany, then the situa- tion would probablv come to a head promptly and a Nationalist ministry sweep into power. But the difficul here lles in the fact that there is a £ood deal of question as to whether Poincare or Millerand would take office. Nominally Poincare is the ader of the opposition, but Millerand j been chosen to the Senate from Paris and the general view 1s that he, and not Poincare, will head the first conservative government 1o succeed the present radical-Socialist cofnbination when they have come to the end of their rope. will iry Lack of Confidence an Evil. Meantime the great evil of the sltuation is the lack of confidence Which exists everywhere. Public ap- yrehension is unmistakable and this reacts obviously upon the financial condition. Economically France is in very good condition. It has 60000 unemployed, against 1,300,000 fur Britain; it has a solid surplus of ports over imports, in striking con- TAst with both Germany and Britain; lly, it has at last balanced its lidget, having now about finished its wemendous task of reconstructing the devastated region. A certain number Af“homes remain to be reconstructed, At for the moment this work has to Tie, abandoned. And it {8 this effort in reconstruction which 1s really responsible for the financial dificulties of France. Up- ward of a hundred billion franc: were than $5,000,000, has been e: pended upon this job, without any German contribution, and this task has been almost too great for French capital resources. The immediate orisis grows out of the fact that very large floating loans have to be cared 1or this year. Unless all signs fail, we are on the eve of something of a reaction in "France. The mood which in England led to Ramsay MacDonald changed with bewildering completeness a_year later. It is the same mood which ex- plains Herriot in France, and it is, too, quite plainly changing. AsIhavesaid, the climax may come at once with a Hindenburg triumph in Germany, or it may be postponed a little, while the radicals, under Painleve, demonstrate further futility, as they are now con- demned to do. The tactics of the op- position, which controls the Senate, are obviously to await the right moment for their certain attack. Pact May Be Compromised. But when the change comes there 1 likely to be a repercussion in foreign »s well as domestic affairs and the prospects of any five-power pact with Germany will be gravely compromised, if the matter remains unsettled until the change has come. Millerand and Toincare are certainly not in agree- ment about many things, but neither only | is likely to continue in Herriot's foot- steps long. A change in foreign policy as great as that which followed the |shift from MacDonald to Baldwin in | Britain is therefore more than likely, 1t I may add one word of caution, | the difficulty in the French situation does not arise as a result of any new access of militarism or any diminution in the well-nigh universal desire of the French people for peace. A return of Poincare would not mean that the reactionaries have won the country. What has happened is that the liberals—whatever u choose to call the present crowd 8 deliberately thrown away r chance. They have stupidly little malevolently taken ad- | vantage of sudden rise to power to | Play the meanest and most miserable of domestic political games. If there is a real change in gov- | ernment, either through the making of a, Briand cabinet, with more con- | servative support, or through an open break and a return to Poincare or Millerand, it will be the result of domestic and not foreign issues, it will be because the mass of the French people have become alarmed for the security, not so much of French frontiers, as of France within her own frontiers; it will be because the innate sense of order and system of the nation has been affronted by one of the maddest and saddest ex- veriments which has been made out- | side of Russia since the war. Meantime, it should be quite ob- vious that with this politicai tur- moil in France there is precious it- tle use of discussing conferences to deal with armaments or proposing negotiations to handle interailied debts. France, all France, is absorb- |ed in her present domestic trouhles, | political and financial, while the Ger- | man election gives food for thousht in the matter of foreign dangers. Conference Is Opposed. I think I can say without exagger- | ation that ‘there is unanimous oppo- |sition in France now to any new | Washington conference — opposition | which will certainly find some way | of expressing itself and would ¥n the |end make such a meeting futile. As for debts, since French ministries are | for the time being almost certain to | be shortlived, there would be little chance of accomplishing much by | talking debt settlement terms with a finance minister who was sure to g0 out of office before the conversa- tions reached any decisive point. The simple truth is that for some time to come France is certain to be in a state of political paralysis. It has no responsible government, in the sense of a government solidly found- |ed upon legislative support, and the situation is such that no responsible | government is likely to arrive for some weeks and even for some months. Beyond the present mess |one can see a definite solution taking form. one can with some degree of cert-inty forecast that it will be a | conservative government which will | finally emerge from the storm, but no one can accurately invoke the. time element. The disease from which France has suffered carries its own cure, but it is far from unlikely that there will be further crises before it runs its appointed course. As it stands only the enemies of France could fail to feel sympathy for a nation which has fallen into hands which are as incompetent as thosé -of Herriot and Painleve or as thick- skinrod as those of Caillaux. To find a paraliel one must, as 1 have said, | =0 back to the moment when the fail- ure of the offensive at the Aisne in |1917, frequently ascribed te Painleve, |for a moment brought despair o the whele nation. And it is at least worthy of note that the names of the THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. (., APRIL 26, 1925—PART 2. BRIDE OF TUESDAY S O ERIG I e A D0 E BURNLEY VES Before her marriage in St. Church, she was liss Edna Sarah Mun- caster, daughter of Dr. Stuart B. Muncaster of Washington. Reform to End Senate Waste of Time Urged by Walsh (Continued from First Page.) hour for each Senator, upon the vote of a two-thirds majority of the Senate. Sixteen Senators must sigh a writ- ten motion to bring about the closing of debate upon any pending measure. On the day following the filing of such a petition, one hour after the Senate meets, the presiding officer must lay the written request before the Sen- ate and directly the secretary must call the roll. Without debate, each Senator must vote, aye or nay, on the question: “Is it the assent of the Senate that the debate be brought to If the decision is in the affirmative a two-thirds vote, then the pend- measure becomes the unfinished business to the exclusion of all othe busin and may speak in all more than one hour. Nor can any amendment be offered after the vote to bring the debate to | During the | a close has been taken. debate following the adoption of the cloture points of order usually de- batable and appeals from the decisions of the presiding officer, also usually debatable, must be decided without de- bate. That is Rule 22, of which we have recently heard so much. * ok ok % Cloture Rule Invoked. Cloture petitions under Rule 22 have been filed in the Senate several times, but on only one occasion has the rule been successfully invoked. This was during the closing days of the debate in the Senate on the Ver- sailles peace treaty. The Straight- Leaguers and the Reservationists united against the Irreconciliabies. who represented less than a third of the Senate. But on this occasion the cloture rule was not invoked until there had been many months of debate which, accord- ing to the contention of the minority, * educated the country” on the issue. The existence of Rule 22 has been effective in fixing a definite date for votes on important ures when being more or less filibus- 3 nst. The threat to file the petition has frequently sufficed to limit debate and bring about a vote. On August 29, 1917, nearly five moaths after we had entered the war, a cloture petition signed by 59 Senalors resulted In a unanimous agreefment to vote on the war reve- nue Jill, which was being filibustered agajnst by groups of Senators who obj/cted to various features—the in- coifie tax rates, the insurance fea- tufes of the war risk insurance act, and others. During considera- tion of the Fordney-McCumber tariff bill, in 1922, which was debated sev- eral months in the Senate, two at- tempts were made to apply this clo- ture rule. Both attempts failed, a two-thirds majority being lacking. On the 12th of last March Senator Copeland of New York started a fili- buster against ratification by the Sen- ate of the Isle of Pines treaty with Cuba. The majority leader filed a petition signed by 47 Senators for the application of Rule 22. As Sen- ator Copeland, after ten hours on his feet, and others who were preparing to follow him in opposition to the Isle of Pines treaty realized that actu- ally two-thirds of the Senate were in favor of the treaty and that all in favor of the treaty would naturally support the petition for cloture rule, he and his small group of persistent fighters surrendered and agreed to fix a definite time for a vote on the treaty. At least a dozen earlier efforts in the past year to fix a date for a vote upon this treaty had failed. The treaty itself had been pending be- fore the Senate for 20 years. The ab- sence, before Rule 22 was adopted, of an effective cloture rule was in large part responsible for this delay. e Argument for Curb. The chief argument for an effective cloture rule, whereby debate may be Reunions Will Feature College Women's Banquet ‘Washington hostesses will make the last annual banquet of the College Women's Club, which will be held at Rauscher's Saturday, May 9, the oc- casion of reunions. It is expected that many members, charter members and former members, will take tables and make the evening a real home- |coming. Mrs. Amos A. Steel, assist- ant probation officer of the District Supreme Court, will have, among other guests, her mother, Mrs.George A. Robertson, of Long Island. Miss Carrie ' Davis will have Dr. Emma | Bowie of Michigan among her guests and Mrs. Joshua Evans, jr., will be hostess to several prominent women of the press: Mrs. Lyman B. Sworm- stedt will have her mother, Mrs. God- frey of Massachusetts, among her leaders of that hour and of the pres- ent are pretty generally identical. (Copyright, 1925.)‘ guests. Others who have taken tables and will be hostesses to their friends no Senator thereafter | limited and measure forced to a vote, is that a majority responsible for the leglslation of each session of Con gress, and therefore should possess the right to secure a decision on its legislative proposals. It is contended that the work of and control by the majority should not be obstructed by methods which are far removed from the domain of legitimate argu ment . Vice President Dawes and others who are opposed to the present mode of cloture in the Senate would still further modify the rules governing debate. They would put sharper | teeth in Rule 22. Instead of requir- ing two-thirds of the Senate member- ship to consent before a debate may be limited, they would provide that a bare major be given power to force a pending measure to a final vote. In most legislative bodies debate is ended by a motion from the floor ordering “the previous question.” This is the method pursued in nearly all State Legislatures, and in the Na- | tional House of Representatives; also in most of the legislative bodies of Europe. The adoption of that method in the Senate has no support at all. It is my opigion that the Dawes pro- posal will fall to receive the support of a majority of the present Senate. x ok kK Much Time Is Wasted. My own attitude is that under the present rules time is wasted, and that there ought to be a reform. Though perhaps no vital piece of legislation has ever been blocked by a filibus- ter, the delay in reaching a vote upon a pending® measure frequently results in crowding other important mea ures off the calendar. In the t session several important measures were denied consideration before ad- journment. 1 believe, therefore, that there should be further limitatfon of de- in the Senate. At the same ny means believe | that the present system has had se- riously detrimental results, and I do | believe that the open forum should be preserved I favor changing Rule 22 so as to restrict the privilege of unlimited de- permitting it _for a fixed pe- say six calendar days—and providing that at the expiration of this period debate may be limited to one hour for each Senator on any bill or any amendment to a bill by a majority instead of a two-thirds vote, as at present required. I would not, however, require a rule of relevancy. Senators restricted to one hour in debate can not, at_ler all, cause very great delay by in- dulging in oratory irrelevant to the measure under consideration. * Xk X Xk Value of Present System. In the last session, the outgoing Senate, was considering the Muscle Shoals bill as unfinished business. While the debate was in progress leading statesmen of France, speak- ing in the Chamber of Deputies, set forth the attitude of the French gov- ernment toward the French debt to the United States. On the following day Senator Borah, chairman of the foreign relations com- mittee, took the floor during the prog- ress of the Muscle Shoals debate in our Senate and in a very able and ad- mirable speech stated the American view (at least the foreign relations committee view) toward the French debt. Senator Reed and others joined in_the discussion. It seems to me that this served a useful parpose. Here was an informal, democratic exchange of views on an important international problem be- tween influential leaders of two coun- tries. . Had the rules of the Senate required Senators to confine their remarks to the measure pending in that body Senator Borah could not have replied —at least, not officlally—from the floor of the United States Senate. Mrs. J. P. Ault, Mrs. O. C. Merrill, Mrs. Pyke Johnson, Mrs. John Earl Walker, Mrs. R. G. McBride, Miss An- nabel Matthews, Miss Grace M. Hen- derson, Mrs. C. L. Munn, Mrs. Harvey Wiley, Mrs. Fredrick E. Farrington, Mrs.” Emma Serrine, Dr. E. Alberta Reade, Miss G. A. Reade, Miss Sarah Beall, Mrs. D. A. Gurney, Miss So- phia Kent, Mrs. F. C. Brown, Mrs. John Barber, Miss Bertha Francis Wolf, Miss Kathrine Koetz, Mrs. R. C. Willams, Miss Netta Peterson, Miss Harrlet Cameron Willlams, Miss M. E. Sheads, Miss Lois Harlson, Mrs. Margaret Hopking Worrell, Mrs. William Van_Vieck, Mrs. Elmer Ball, Mrs. Clyde W. Warburton, Mrs. H. W. Draper, Miss Marie Debastine, Mrs. S. E. Kramer, Miss Emma Crans, Mrs. L. P. Hester, Miss Fuidelia R. | Kidder, Mrs. Edith C. Paul, Miss Jane Bartlett, Mrs. Chester Morrell, Mrs. Joseph C. Zirkle, Mrs. Howard Nich- Basil M. Manly, Miss Louise Chick, Mrs. William Herron, Mrs. Thomas Sidwell, Miss Arline DuFour; Miss Edna James Sheehy. Mrs. Harris Baldwin, president of the club, will be the toastmistress and introduce the speakers. INQUIRE ABOUT OUR DEFERRED PAYMENT PLAN W. B. Moses & Sons Established 1861 F Street and Eleventh Linens Upholstery Furniture : Carpets Attractive Suites and Occasional Pieces for Spring and Summer Exclusive line of Lawn Umbrella Sets, Beach Umbrellas, Canvas Chairs: Steamer Louriging Chair, with canopy cover Gliding Porch Davenport; no hooks or stand required Large size Willow Chair......... 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