Evening Star Newspaper, April 3, 1932, Page 25

Part 2—8 Pages U. S. PRESTIGE AT LOWEST | POINT ABROAD SINCE 1917 Congress Renders White House and State Department Ef forts Futile as Regards Eurcpean Policy. BY ARIS—At months' stay on the continent which, spent in Paris and Geneva, permitted me to meet most of the s;awsmentctlrectmgi European affairs at the present time, no | Imprr’g:sion was more striking than that of the total lack of influence by America on European councils. At no time since 1917 has American influence been so inconsiderable, American prestige so Jow. While the question of debts still hangs a cloud over all European meet- ings, it is impossible to mistake the fact that America has become at once un- intelligible and negligible in European calculations. ‘The reasons for this state of affairs| are naturally manifold. but in the end | all come back to_the fundamental fact | that, while the White House and the State Department continue to attempt | to pursue an active policy with Europe, of course Congress steadily renders fu- tile and at times ridiculous all the vari- ous carefully conceived operations by President Hoover and Secretary Stim- son. Europe quite frankly does not know how or where to apply to get any inkling as to American policy, or any illumination on the matter of American action. FRANK H. SIMONDS. | the “end of a two: | Lack of Policy Cited. Looking back over the years since the war that I have been in Europe, I can- not remember any time when we counted less. The truth is that, while our im- portance. is unmistakable, European statesmen have not the remotest idea as to what actually is American opinion. Beyond a doubt there is general appre- ciation of the rapid extension of isola- tion_sentiments, but what is puzzling the European mind is that, with billions of dollars at stake in private invest- ments in Europe, there is discoverable no_public po]lc{ | Europe frankly throws up its hands| as it finds the American representatives at Geneva ready to discuss the question of disarmament, but forbidden to con- sider the parallel issue of security. It cannot grasp for what reason it is that, while we intervened in a spectacular | manner to save Germany by the mora- torium last Summer, we now declare in advance our purpose to remain away from Lausanne where the fate of Ger- many may very easily be determined. Since our money is still there, why are we now as unconcerned as We were eager in June of last year? Our Amibassadors move with great publicity and in complete mystery about Europe. Paris recently has been con-| sumed with curiosity over the excur-| sion of Ambassador Sackett of Berlin to Paris. but the result of all these journeyings, lik> Stimson’s jaunt to Eurcpe this Summer, comes to precisely n'l exnmired closely. Why are we al- insistent on playing the diplo-| reme with extreme regard for all ™o-alities, but always drawing back the r=~=ont a question of importance comes un Favors Congress’ Action. By and large, Europe has arrived at | the conclusion that the present admin- | istration, because of the hostility of Congress, is unable to carry through serious negotiations with foreign na- tions. In this situation it would like to | find a means of getting in touch with, Congress, but knowg that this is out of the question. It remembers clearly the fatal blunder made at the peace con- ference by Mr. Wilsen, and it is anxious not to repeat the blunder with Hoover, but it literally cannot find a way to carry through the ordinary relations with a distant, abgent and intangible United States. The recent spectacle of our Secretary of State addressing a statement of high | policy to Senator Borah greatly im- | pressed many foreign offices. I know | severz! which would like to follow this example and accredit representatives to Borah and the Senate instead of to the | ‘White House, but naturally cannot. Eince, too, all our diplomatic machinery | abroad is attached at home to only one | branch of the Government, Europe goes whirling and whirring into_space. Tar- | dieu can send to Edge, Bruening to | Sackett to find out the views of the | White House: events in the Senate very | frequently demonstrate almost instantly that these views amount to little more than personal opinions, which cannot | be translated into action. In the matter of debts and repara- tions Europe, convinced it cannot arrive at a final settlement without American | participation, cannot find an American to deal with. If the President and Con- gress had all along pursued an identical course, even had that been one of total refusal to cancel or reduce, Europe would be less bewildered. the moratorfum affair as a change of American policy, undertaken by the President; it still is unable to compre- | hend the subsequent course of Congress. Our ambassadors abroad get instruc- tions to wait upon prime ministers or fcreign ministers to communicate views of great importance. But, while the foreign statesmen listen with interest | and courtesy, they remain totally in the | dark as to what the messages presage, | and inevitably begin to query Washing- ton and examine American friends as to the real meaning of the messages and the likelihood of a counter-offensive on the part of Congress. The result is that the difference between the impor- tance of the American and the British ambassador at any European capital is incredible, a fact never more impressive than when matters of grave and world- wide importance are up. Now, to be precise, the matter of the Lausanne Conference is far less definite than the questions concerning the Danubian states, since one of two things is bound to happen. There | either will be another complete failure | to adjust economic interests because of political rivalries, or presently certain definite agreements will be made. In the former case the United States merely will suffer, in accordance with its commitments in the resulting col- lapse of the mark; in fact, of all Cen- tral European currencles and a further restriction of markets. In the latter event it will later be confronted by a | very definite plan worked out chiefly by | the great powers envisaging the elimi- | EDITORIAL SECTION he Sunday Sty WASHINGTON, D. C. SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL 3, 1932. Special Articles Tariffs and the Depression Growth of Economic Nationalism—New Protectionism Crippling World Commerce. BY ANDRE SIEGFRIED, Author of “America Comes of Age.” T the present time we are wit- nessing an unprecedented abuse of economic nationalism—the division of this planet into com- partments that tend to become more and more watertight is a symbol of the world depression, as well as one of its direct causes. The exaggerated form that protection- ism has assumed since the war is an entirely new development. Commercial- ism and its excesses had existed in the past, but today the technique of the closed door is much more advanced than it was, and therefore it is more dangerous. France's tariff laws of 1892 appeared quite adeguate at that time as a means of protection, but as the past recedes they assume an unbelievably mild and reasonable aspect, M. Meline (the French McKinley) claimed that the tariff laws were sim iy a _means of equalization, a correc- tive, placing the French producer on an equal footing with his foreign com- petitor. These laws were intended t fill the gap, nothing more, and the were supposed to work with a clock-like —— precision. But even if these laws did emphasize a certain degree of national- istic exclusiveness, they were never in- tended to interrupt international com- merce. Quite the contrary, Such in- terchange was considered quite normal, as evidenced by the fact that the mini- mum tariff was the rule in our com- mercial agreements before 1914. The Old Spirit Dead. From the moment the World War began in 1914 methods and attitudes changed entirely, and since then we have never had a renewal of the old spirit. During the war the administra- tion of the customs was placed in the the need of a corrective. Their failure | others. Their inflated currencies and was due, it had to be admitted, to the low labor costs give them an abnormal severity of these laws. and an agree- |advantage in exports. Others, for a ment had to be reached whereby the reason exactly opposite, are at great importation of certain classes of articles disadvantage. They are suffering from would be allowed. | their deflated currencies and fliom ;helr i high standard of living as well as from Peciod (o€ DisixbeTIRlY, | the debts that they have not disowned. Due to this new power invested in |Briefly, they find themselves in an im- ner, not by & normal current of goods, but by sudden, irresistible inundations in no way responding to the demands or _the real needs of the consumers. It is therefore necessary to find new | weapons of defense against this flood of goods, as the old ones do not suffice. Partial prohibitions have to be re- | sorted to.” These are more direct, more efficacious and more brutal than tariff | barriers, but as importations cannot be entirely suppressed they must be regulated, just as they were during the war. That is to say, the importa- | tion of a certain product is allowed to a limited extent after national produc- tion has reserved the portion of the trade that is considered to be its shar: More to be feared is the weapo which ‘regulates the distribution of the means of exchange. Importing is one thing, paying for importations is an- | other. "If one withholds from a na- tion the means of paying for what it | | imports, is this not what might bhe called an airtight prohibition? A considerable number of countries today are proceeding on this definite | basis of regulation. Due to this fact, international trade relations are re- duced to a minimum, and in some in- stances are almost entirely arrested. Customs laws still exist as a sort of framework, but the real interest in in- ternational ‘negotiations seems to be elsewhere.. In all discussions the idea of quotas seems to be more in the as- cendant than new tariff schedules. | often happens that negotiations take | place directly between different indus- tries in different countries, each one | bearing witness to its own claims and | agreeing upon’ the quotas which each | believes to be its due. | Tilusion of Normality. | In 1928 we ail hoped that the return to more normal conditions was Despite Depression BY ROBERT P. WEBBER. . ORONTO.—The stabflity of Ca- | nadian benks in a period of | world depression is an economic | fact, attracting continent-wide | attention. | In the financial stress following the | market crash of 1929 thousands of | United States banks have failed, mil- lions in deposits have been wiped away, | and many more millions have been withdrawn from the sound banks in the | United States and hidden away because of unfounded fear, by depositors, of the solvency of these institutions. No Canadian banks have failed since the beginning of the depression, or for | many years before: no bank scares have occurred, and no bank has had serious difficulties. Annual reports of the 10 Canadian banks in January were scrutinized with interest on both sides of the boundary line. They disclosed that banking in Canada was not as profitable now as in the years immediately preceding the market crash, and bank shareholders | ADIAN BANK STRENGTH DRAWS WIDE ATTENTION and Experience of U. S. Institutions, Dominion Has Had No Failures. strength of unity and the weakness of isolation is the greatest factor in the contrasting bank histories of Canada and the United States, there are other less obvious factors. Canadian banks attend strictly to banking to a greater extent than in the United States. In Canada, loan corporations handle the real estate mortgage business, and trust coL.pa- nies handle estates and trust funds. The Canadian system has grown to meet the needs of the country without teo much guidance from politicians. The system springs from the British North America act. and the banking act is revised by the federal governe ment every 10 years. The provinces have no say in banking matters. There is no central gold reserve for general liabilitles of the banks, as in the United »States; neither is there the same legal requirement as to the amount of reserve a Canadian bank must _keep. United States cash reserves are usual- Iy maintained above legal requirements had to be satisfied with only regular [#nd in Canada greater cash reserves dividends in 1931, without the bonus |Are generally maintained than in the It | usual at the end of the banking year. | From the viewpoint of the depositor, however,the banks stand as strong and | sound as ever. | Only Ten Large Banks. Banking in Canada and banking in| | the United States have progressed along | radically different lines. The United | States system is preponderantly one of independent units—a large number of | small banks with a superimposed cen- | tral banking system. In Canada the banking requirements are met by 10 | large, independent banks, with almost | 5,000 branches. ‘These banks are independent in man- nation of reparations and of debts. | | feel that it has been deceived by Hoo- | hands of the police; it was necessary Told to Clean Up Mess. to suppress all communication with the enemy, to prevent certain foreign prod- ucts from arriving and certain home products from leaving. At the same time, new preoccupations appeared—the worry over keeping the currency stable in the face of decreased imports, the management of the overburdened mer- chant marine and the preservation of the purchasing power of the country to permit essential expenditures We found ourselves in the midst of a feverish, exaggerated nationalistic life which called for new courses of action. The new tariff laws, replacing those which had become insufficient and in- efficient, had the effect of prohibiting | exportation and prohibiting importation. | The government had full authoriza- A favorite doctrine of the Hoover ad- 1 ministration, which has been liberally circulated in Europe, is that the first step to a general reorganization must | be an agreement between the European | states to clean up their own mess. Thereafter, so Europe has been told again and again, it would be possible to approach Washington after the presi- dential election and demand bellerl terms, based on further sacrifices over here, with brighter prospects in Ameri- can trade and private debts. | This is the underlying assumption for Lausanne. This will be the argument | urged on all sides for an agreement. But this means, in simple terms, that if Lausanne should produce an adjustment | of the European economic questions | squarely based on the idea of cancella- | tion of debts to America, and if the project later meets rejection at the hands of Congress, Europe is going to ver, as it firmly believes it was misled | by Wilson in the matter of the peace treaties. But if the agreement reached at Lausanne is on the basis of repudi- ation by Europe and cancellation of United States debts, what will be left | for America to do? That is the ques- tion. Events Move Rapidly. In point of fact, events are moving here very rapidly now. There will either be an agreement between France and Great Britain as to general policy. | Jor a continuation of the deadlock which has lasted since MacDonald be- came prime minister two years ago. If an agreement comes, it will be the prelude to a Summer of important conferences, not & few, perhaps, cai ried on behind the screen of the mori- bund Disarmament Conference. If we adhere to our present policy of ab- stention, we are likely to find all our interests adjusted without regard to our views, when Autumn comes. Of course, if all agreements fail. a new crash of the mark is regarded uni- versally as inevitable, and with this the collapse of private as contrasted with reparations payments. But, in either case, the heaviest cost will have been borne by American taxpayers and investors, and what s most astonish- ing is that American representatives have deliberately been stopped from participating in the affair. At Geneva, where nothing can be done about dis- armament, we have our full and costly share, but elsewhere, at a conference where our billions must be at stake our voices will be absent. Can one wonder that Europe is amazed that American diplomacy can be so im- nt? (Copyright, 1932.) Austrian Passion for Titles Combines Hospitality and St BY JOHN GUNTHER. | VIENNA, Austria—The passion for | titles in Vienna has no end. The pe- culiar genius of Austria that combines extreme hospitality with great regard for ritual also makes for social ermi- nology so complicAted it is like study- ing Einstein. 1, for instance, pdgsess no title or rank of any kind. | Don't I, though? ~ In Vienna I have beer, addressed as “Herr Doktor,” “Herr \\Kollege" (colleague), “Herr Sekretaer,’ “Herr Direktor,” “Herr Radakteur” (égitor) even Professor.” And, in essed to me I am In- “highly well born"—"hoch= The idea of addressing my name is too mon- variably wohlgeboren e simply by strous 1o concei 1 have a list before me of the people invited to a cuite modest, business- like and entirely unofficial gathering, nothing more, in fact, than a meeting at a radio company to inaugurate a new development in its service. Here are some of the titles, with transla- tions as near as I can figure them out: Ing. Emil Ustrnul. (Engineer.) Sektionschef Dr. Richard Soos. (Head of a department.) Ministerialrat Ing. Dr. Rudolf Stampfl. (Councilor of court, also engineer and doctor.) Sektionarat Dr. Maximilian Hart- wich. (Sub-head of & department.) Oberbaurat Dr. Oskar Smutny. (Ar- chitect.) 3 Regierungsrat Jokann (Government councilor.) Rechnungdirektor Blum. (Title for some one who has no other title.) Rechtanwalt Dr. Priedrich von Kam- mann. (Lawyer.) Hofrat Dr. Pach. (Court councilor.) Kommerzialrat Richard Honetz. (Title | for merchants.) Generaldirecktor Dr. (General director.) Telegraphenamtsdirektor Karl. egraph director.) One of the oddest things about the list was the group of names of Amer- | ican journalists that followed. Here | Austrian courtesy got the best of it| with a vengeance. It was unthinkable that & colleague of mine named Mac- Donald should simply be listed as “MacDonald Surely. the Austrians Hoffman. Oskarezeija. (Tel- ¥ thought, that “Mac” meant something. | reet Rules of Ritual So on the list the name came out Mac Donald It is estimated that there are 40,000 “hofrats” in Austria, though the title, which means “court councilor,” is ab- solutely extinct, so far as any signi: cance goes. Similarly, “ministerialrat” and “regierungsrat” are without mean- since the government to which y were “councilors” has long since expired Combinations of titles are, of course, a profound and fascinating study. I have before me a list of contributors to a Sunday newspaper, and a gentle man, believe it or net, is down for an essay on economics who is entitled “Ing. Professor Hofrat Sektionschef Mulier,” What is more, don't forget his wife must invariably be addressed with all that mouthful, “Frau Ing. Pro- fessor Hofrat Sektionschef Muller The wives, in fact, take it very seri- ously. One of the pecularities of the German and Austrian mind is strict female_attention to and appropriation of male titles. The women have no right by merit to their titles. but they get them automatically from their hus- bands, I know an American woman in Vienma who seriously hurt her social career by calling the wife of an officlal 2 simple “Prau Doktor” instead of “Prau Hofrat.” In the house where I live two ladies have the same name, but we distinguish them quite easily. one being “Frau Ingenieur” and the other “Frau Dozent” (Mrs. Engineer and Mrs. ‘Teacher). Actual titles of nobility are theoreti- cally abolished in Austria. Young Arch- duke Leopold Salvator simply signs him- | self, for instance “Leopold Hapsburg.” | But there is still much mention of Graf | This-or-That (Count), Ritter von So- |and-so (Knight), and so on. Queerly, the title of “professor” is comparatively rare. It is the highest | le sfep for a man of learning or | for a uniVersity teacher, and is fitting | climax to a career. Anti-Semitism at versity has served to | keep many worthy men from full pro- | fessorships. They pass their lives as “dozents.” | And what is a foreigner to do before this maze? I have a very simple solu- tion. I call everybody 1 meet “Herr Professor,” puzzled. and .some of them whisper about it, but I think they are quite pleased. | (Copyright, 17.: the executives, not only in France, but in all countries, they began to wield an influence which parliaments had denied them for half a century. It be- came a period of dictatorship; a politi- cal power, which in France had be- longed to the tariff commissioners ever since 1890, now became a possession of the government. This whole tendency has hardly changed since the war. The world re- mains divided, politically and economi- | has thrown them in their way. With without discrimination, in- | . | cluding walters at the cafes. They seem | sctsoot, where. he happened to' be the | classmate of Prince Albert, the present Kl cally, by a sharp and narrow national- ism. Now, every country wishes to be independent in its products as well as politically; even the smallest states desire to manufacture everything, to have a full complement of industries. The inequalities of exchange produce the most erratic results on labor costs, tion to pronounced these new laws by | sale prices and conditions of competi- decree, for as often as not decisions tion. The old clocklike precision of had to be made in a great hurry|the tarifl's equalizing effect has been without the possibility of consuiting the | wiped out. Chamber. Nevertheless, the excessive| Today certain countries are excep- | number of these edicts brought about | tionally favored when competing with passe where they cannot better their position. Political Results Certain. Results of all this are bound to ap- pear in the political field. Because these results are no longer commercial but really political, the national government intervenes more and more, and eco- nomic activity becomes more and more nationalistic in its outlook. People are beginning to believe and to say that home consumption can be taken care of by home preduction; there is no longer a question of equalization by tariffs, as in 1892. Now what is desired is a monopoly of the home markets, thanks to which. with foreign competition eliminated, profits can be. guaranteed. As to the unsold surplus, that can be disposed of outside in the form of dumping: that is to say, this surplus can be thrown. regardless of price, on any foreign market which remains sufficiently open. These markets are thus invaded in a very irregular man- In | agement und stock ownership,» sight. This was an illusion that had | K ag contral basking metom, o here [to be abandoned. We have, on the| In a system of independent units as | contrary, returned to an atmosphere | in the United States, each bank de- which recalls the war more than at any | pends entirely upon its own resources other moment since 1919. | and the prosperity of its section of Political questions are everywhere | the country. If the community served indissolubly mixed with economic ques- |is engaged chiefly in one occupation, | tions. | the stability of the bank depends upon The State has become accustomed to | the stability of this industry. For this exercising authority which definitely | reason there were frequent bank fail- limits the individual initiative of other |ures in the United States even when | times; an entire mechanism of inter- vention created by the war permits this Usutpation of power which the preced: ing generation never even dreamed of. A neoprotectionism has appeared which in practice is sometimes pushed to ab- surd extremes, and which is largely responsible for the prolongation of the depression. Can the world, at least the civilized world, become submissive to such practices? One sometimes asks this question of one’s self not without some trepida- tion for the whole of civilization. Belgium’s New Financial King Emile Francqui Is a Money Wizard Who Has Many Times Saved His Land From Disaster. BY COUNT CARLO SFORZA, Former Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs INCE the end of the war the world has been a victim of re- current attacks of industrial and financial collapse. By the be- ginning of this year the evil had become almost universal! Luckily for the social order, the myth of “authority” is strongly rooted in human beings. Otherwise the suffer- ing nations might turn their indigna- tion not only upon practical statesmen —whese failure has never before been 50 evident—but also upon academic cconomists, financial experts and the like The scientists can tell us a lot of delightful and useful things about the unseen universe which surrounds us. yet the economic and financial caste vet has been unable to agree about 2 single reason for our present criss. What about the cycle of trade? When will the trade slump end? Is the deficiency of available gold respon- sible for millions of persons being un- employed? To these and 20 analogous questions it seems impossible to get an answer—an answer, I mean, that we feel we can accept. However, there are a few men whose views command attention because their | financial competence is mingled with a rare amount of moral col . There | are -hree or four such men i Europe— | men toward whom the political crowds | turn in moments of danger: men Who | not only define a disease but offer a | remedy—not @2 quack remedy, but something practical and logical. A Typical Example. A Belgian is perhaps the most typical example of this group—Emile Francqui. whoe has recently become quite a figure in the world of finance and economics, | en in the United States, which he ted last November for a series of nformal conversations with President Hoover Francqui belongs to thercategory of public men of whom nobody speaks when times are prosperous. Only when the tempest approaches, or shipwreck threatens, are their names invoked and full powers offered to them, generally too late. So it _has happened more than once with Francqui. During the war and the invasion of Belgium every- body seemed to think it perfectly nat- | aral that he should become President of the Comite National. Later. in 1926, he was called again to power to save Belgium from a ‘fimgle g‘nnr‘l’:m‘ Peaceful, provincial Belgium was too crisis And just recently he has been ; i appointed governor of the Soclete Gen- monotonous formymmx »Frflncaul A erale de Belgique, the country's biggest | Soon as he got his first stripes, in 1885, bank. | he enlisted in the “Force Publique” of Popular? No: more feared and re- |the Kongo: it was the heroic period of spected than liked. | the Belgian colony. But Francqui was It could not be otherwise. Francqui| much above his simple military tasks is one of the rare public men in Europe and he wes lucky enough to have his who, I fecl, enjoy coming into power | colonels and generals discover the fact only when they believe they have some- | without hating him for it. Very soon thing to do or to give, but who person- | he was attached to the staff to which ally are at least as giad when the po- | was intrusted the planning of the litical turn of affairs allows or obliges | Kongo railway. them to resign. They are men who| Five years later, suspictous of the would be ashamed of being only poli- ticians; they are themselves, and they accept political duties only because life EMILE FRANCQUT British South African borders, King Leopold decided to send an urgent ex- pedition to those regions. out illusions about popularity or fame,| Francqui was on leave in Brussels; these men may become splendid serv-|the King was advised to see the young ants of their country and of some | officer. humen, wide ideal of progress, but they disdain the small tricks of everyday | said: political intrigue. That is why they| “I intrust the expedition to you. but never become leaders of parties and | you must leave es soon as pessible.” groups. | And Prancqui: “There is & boat leav- Indeed, Prancqui's whole life pre-|ing from England the day after to- cludes the tricks of politicians. His life | morrow.” spells doing. “Could vou take that boat? Are vou He studied. as a boy. at a military rezgs'?" And Francqui left for London and the Kongo half an hour after the au- ing of the Belgians, Who is only & dience. little younger. 4 doings of the English along the Kongo- | He was called to the palace. | At the close of the audience the King As| —Drawn for The Sunday Star by S. J. Woolf. A BELGIAN CITIZEN OF THE WORLD, The Francqui expedition proved the most detisive action toward the en- forcement of Belgian sovereignty. It is not surprising that King Leo- pold remembered Francqui when he or- ganized his great Chinese scheme: lit- tle Belgium trying to become the tech- nical adviser of gigantic China. And to China went Francqui, and with Jadot, another great Belgian, ne organized almost all the enterprises, thanks to which, to this day, the name and the influeffte of Belgium in Chira show up so creditably beside that of other nations. When Francqui agreed. a few years | ago, to become a cabinet minister to organize the struggle for the franc he | aroused fear and surprice, but also, lit- tle by little, admiration in the and the politicians. Nobedy Bothered Him. His office, at his own request, was furnished “temporarily"—a table, three chairs and a portable hat stand. These camping fixtures became the symbol of his independence. Especially the hat stand, on which he used to hang hat and coat in full view. When a col- league or some other politician made objections or opposed him Prancqui used to point to the hat stand: “There are my hat and my overcoat; officials | if you bother me I shall put them on and go.” Ncbody bothered him. | needed. During the last international confer- ence also he was needed. For instance, last July in London at the famous of- ficlal meeting convened by Prime Min- ister MacDonald to discuss the financial situation in Germany. The scene was related to me by one of the rare cabi- He was net ministers in power in Europe, who | has not yet lost all sense of humor. After a speech from the chairman, Mr. MacDonald—a speech which might have impressed a religious audience more than some 20 skeptical politicians —after a brilliant answer from Laval, after a gloomy and serious answer from | Bruening and after a few more or less formal contributions from other dele- gates, a deadly silepce had fallen on the assembly. Almost everybody felt the difficulty of submitting something practical. It was at this point that the chairman tarned to the massive figure | of Francqui, who always reminds me, | with his cold but vigorous expression, | of some Italian Ccndottiere of the fif- teenth century, and asked: | "Hes not our distinguished Belgian | colleague something to suggest?” The Belgian answered that he had not. But Mr. MacDonald knew better, and insisted. And the only practical | proposals which came cut of the cele- | brated London meeting were offered by | Prancqui to his distressed colleagues, | and adopted by them eagerly. Mr. MacDonald knew that it was worth while to insist with Francqui, because he knew one essential point | about the Belgian financier—that while | French and German eccnomists are | sorely or mainly thinking of immediate | French or German interests, Francqui |1s organically unable to think only in a | Belgian, or French, or German way. | He never forgets for a moment—a true representative of free-trader Belgium— that the present crisis, terrible as it is, |15 only a momentary cross-section of | the major crises which have grown up since the war and out of a mediocre ce. When the Hoover plan for the sus- | pension of war payments for one year | was announced, Francqui was the first | to proclaim in Europe that it was a | mere breathing space, and that it was |urgent for Europe to act and decide | before the end of the Hoover armistice. His Consclence at Rest. Prancqui is almost unique in Europe in being able to say that his conscience is at rest. He proposed first to the board of the Bank for International Settlements in Basel and later to the commission created in Geneva for the preliminary studies concerning the Eu- ropean Union a plan for reviewing the before the war flowed in the same di- rection as the capital of Western Eu- rope, which went to the Near East and to certain overseas countries. The of which served to develop new coun- tries economically in such a manner as to increase the buying capacity of the populations, and thus to provoke a per- manent demand for manufactured gcods. This system mo longer functions. Prancqui proposes to reinstate it under another form adapted to the present circumstances, which would have the same beneficent results. There are at present in several coun- tries of Europe institutions of a type analogous to the Belgian “Societe Na- tionale de Credit a I'Industrie,” the ob- ject of which is to discount paper at three, four, flve and six years, drawn nature of their ente: used me- dium or long-term lits, such as rail- way or electrical companies. In order to enable these “nati (Continued on Fourth Page 4 | the, country generally was prosperous. The Canadian system eliminates this. A bank with branches covering many thousand square miles is not disastrous- ly affected by crop or industrial failure in one section. in scattered sec- tions are absorbed by the whole with- out the interests of the depositors of | the unfortunate section or any other | section being injured. While small depositors in the United States may worry about the solvency of the independent banking unit in which | they are interested, the Canadian de- | positor in the small community realizes that the assets of the whole huge banking system lie behind his deposits. Back of the little one-story bank in a cross-road Canadian town bulks the head office of the Bank of Montreal at supervision, year the formation of some sort of cen- United States. Monthly returns are made to the government by Canadian banks regarding their position, invest- ments, and relations with other banks. It is said that even among Federal Reserve banks in the United States, if the bank inspector finds the bank in & difficult position and reports adversely he dooms the bank; if he doesn't, the bank may or may not work out of its difficulties. In either case the depositor is in rather a precarious position. It is notb‘n l;‘ede;‘al Reserve banks, how- ever, but in the smaller, independ banks that the real weakness 2xrt:. i Management Counts Most. In the last analysis it is not so much government intervention or supervision that guarantees stability and solvency, but conservative management of the bank’s affairs by its own executives. In Canada it is only necessary for banking to provide 10 such managements, while in the United States there are many thousand bank executives with varying ideas on how to conduct a bank along sound lines. At each decennial revision of the Canadian bank act there has been a tendency toward greater government and in the revision next tral bank is a definite possibility. The 10 Canadian banks have a paid- up capital of $137,500,000, with reserves of $162,000,000. The Scotia is unique in having paid-up’ Bank of Nova cap- ital of $12,000,000, with reserves of flz- 000,000. Nine of the ten Canadian | banks have total deposits of only $2,500,- 000,000 and total assets of only $3,124,- 000,000. by Considering the banks of Canada and the United States, six United States banks are in the lead in total it un.dbusg:,lwuh v.h;w Benk of Montreal & yal Bank ding seventh and eighth places on this continent, export trade movement of goods which | capital consisted of loans, the produce | by industrials on clients who, by the | and thirteenth and f laces. in the world. The Canadian of Com- merce holds eleventh place among banks on this continent. | (Copyrizht. 1932. by the North Newspaper Alliance. Inc | Montreal. Behind the bank in a tent ‘m A mining camp towers the 32-story head office of the Bank of Commerce at Toronto. While the difference between the y Amdsigan jAutonomylon Equality With U. S. \ Quezon Proposal for Philippines MANILA, P. I—A plan by the Philippines might voluntarily | her by conguest. remain within the political sovere, which | as a conqueror, in a land That Mt‘ zfinn |of the United States and by whi America’s diplomatic position in the Far | er, East could be strengthened has been | make them right to us. The outlined by Manuel L. Quezon, who is | —I myself, too—will keep on talking the undisputed mentor of Philippine | ‘independence’ and longing _ideally statescraft. Discussing the present | for ‘independence’ as long as this ‘de- :ienuancm‘ Mr. Que[zolT's criticisms may | pendence’ is forced upon us. summarized as follows i jews | “Pirst. Political association per se| . s";v g m"m » | with America is not, in all probability, | h ‘“l‘ t r’n m’nTt:-'r“ we e r;i | obnoxious to the Pilipino people. But | Cholce In the matier our views might | association with America as a subject | Changc entlrely. L e : i | tual confidence prevailing our views | people is obnoxious. That is the present | babl: vould T | attitude of the Filipinos. The stigma of | Probably — wo change — an; | conquest is upon them, they feel it deeply and will feel it until it is| removed. Second. Governors from the United | States and government by tutelage in | the Philippines are antiquated, if they | were ever needed. But, on the other | hand. Federal Government reprosenta- | tion in Manila is welcome and desir- | able so long as American sovereignty | | prevails, | shouldn't hesitate a moment to help change them, if I found such an ar- rangement beneficial. “The new relationship Would recog- nize the fact of the racial difference of the two peoples but not the racial superiority of either, as’ well as the necessity of American help, at least for the period set to insure us against foreign aggression and to insure our | economic readjustment and stability so | that such American control as is being | Quezon Outlines Solution. ‘;tgttltsednu& bem -ccep!e‘d ,h‘yu ue frankly | Mr. Quezons solution is an organic | pacity for :elr-égizr:mcmfingc‘:mu | act for the Philippines (passed bY | so humiliating to us and which we deny ‘S::lglms:re:?d upprovedwby l:]e Pg)s‘l' —but bls the logical sequel to the re- ing an autonomous V- sponsibilities o | ernment in the island to have equal jca. anm.’?gc;fiun&m md | participation with the United States | do away with uncertainties. in arranging the terms of iradc be-| “The new situation might prove so | tween the two countries. n other | mutually beneficial to America and the words, autonomy even in tariff mat- | Philippines as to make it possible for | ters; power to levy duties upon Amer- | the American and Filipino peoples to |ican goods entering the Philippines, |see at the end of the stated period America keeping her power to levy du- | (when either country can at will sever | ties upon Philippine goods entering the | completely the connection) that it is to United States. (Power over trade be- | the advantage of both to continue the tween the United States and the|same relationship or form a new kind Philippines is now wholly in Congress.) | of association. If, on the other hand, Mr. Quezon would permit the Fili- | either country wishes to be free from | pinos to declare by plebiscite their | any relationship with the other when willingness to remain with the United | the period is up, each is equally free States or th;irndeéir:téosend tzg re- | to act ationship; and the Un tates should WSS | make a similar decision, to keep 0n| iy e Pimn Maer% tree | 'wi | with the Philippines or let them 0.| cyoice in the matter, removing the stigma of war and conquest, and the | The stigma of the present situation, | involuntary on the part of the gyiy'they would vote to rematn wit | United States. This, of course. would | Filipinos, would be removed if the people voted “Yes, we stay with the § Far United States.” Continued SOVerelgnity | Gat Soom. wae of - hat e aniey 1o to consider—moral weakness to one : would be by consent of the Pilipinos, a matter of pride instead of humiliation. ¢ o 0oy strength. Every country would ‘Wants Restraint Removed. | be compelled to look upon the Philip- ot ~1Q.~h.u explain what I mean,” said | Dines 10 & different light. the same in Mr. Quezon i ocks. upen, CRrNGs. “I am a man far from being well. (He | p, 10 short, America’s position in_the is recovering from lung trouble threat- :h}:‘rl:‘pepdm&‘m w&‘f:"m be :‘ltnlfihg ening tuberculosis) Of late I don't|fith8ee-. ” d‘:xnmgd coxf/ilp?‘uu?:n'c"ll care to go out much and I spend all O my time in this house. I like it. But (D a5 satisfaciory as a Canadian’s is if_any one told me I had to keep to| my house for seven days, all the joy | {Conszie of being here and doing that very thing would be gone; it would be 2 P something T had to'do Instead of some- | ¥ 1€NNA Coffee Owners Sue Ministry of War 1932.) thing I wanted to do. | “Or take Canada, for a political example. - If a movement began in | Canada to withdraw from England T e and join up with the United States, VIENNA, Austria.—Forty Viennese would it not at once find encourage- | coffee houses have brought suit against ment in the United States? Yet why | the ministry of saying that their is there no trouble in Canada about | business had been hurt by a recent or- this? ~Because Canada is so com-| der forbidding soldiers in uniform to pletely autonomous that her associa- | visit them. tion with Fngland in the British| These coffee houses, many of them Empire is voluntary. She could break situated in or near Vienna's famous the ties at any time, and because she | Prater, were haunted, the officials said, could she doesn't want to do it. She by spies, counter-revolutionaries, spec- is free. | ulators in “black schillings,” and, be it “America’s Telationship with _the | whispered, ladfes. Philippines is not as happy as Eng- | _Attorneys for the Union of Viennese land’s with Canada. Cafe Owners have brought suit. “We certainly must admit that sus-| Soldiers, they say, ought to be old picion of America is not lacking in the | enough to take care of themselves— Far East. America’s coming to the | otherwise they ought not to be soldiers. Philippines was an aggression. We| They deny also that their coffee didn’t ask her to come: we fought to | houses are ever visited by shady per- try to drive her away. But she|sons or . . . ladies. The ministry of ‘licked” us and stayed on, stayed on|war thinks oth b