OUR DEBT TO THE U.S.
SENATOR AND MR. BALDWIN.
A BITTER ATTACK.
FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. NEW YORK, Tuesday. Senator Mckellar’s exasperation, caused by the reported remarks of Mr. Baldwin at Southampton, was expressed in the New York American, but the Tennessee legislator, not satisfied with this publicity, renewed his attack in the Senate yesterday afternoon, urging President Harding to call upon the British Government to repudiate, and apologise for the statements suggesting that Washington legislators were “rural minded,” and that the debt problem was in the hands of politicians. It was very much a storm in a teacup, but Mr. Mckellar, elated by support in divers organs of public opinion in various parts of the country, again denounced Mr. Baldwin’s utterances as “coarse and uncouth,” and added that if he had “exhibited the same elements of sordid parsimony, and uttered the same attacks upon the American people and their Congress while at Washington, the American Debt Commission should have refused to negotiate with him.” Senator Mckellar, contrasting the attitude of Lord Balfour and other British Commissioners who have visited Washington, said that they came with “compliments and flattery and expressions of goodwill,” but, he added, “when pay-day comes around they send another Commission here that deals in secret.” Mr. Mckellar resented the suggestion that Western legislators were ignorant of national business and finance, and said Senator Smoot, of Utah, a member of the Refunding Commission, is probably as well versed in international finance as Mr. Baldwin. Representative Burton, Mr. Mckellar declared, is an authority on international finance and business. The terms offered by the American Commission were described as violating the expressed will and determination of Congress, and the Senator could not understand a selfrespecting and contract-observing people like the British permitting one of their own number to utter untrue and discourteous words towards the American people and their representatives. Who, demanded Mr. Mckellar, quoting the London despatch, are the two prominent American diplomats quoted as promising informally at a luncheon at 10 Downingstreet, last summer, that the British Government might anticipate being able to fund the debt on an interest basis of 2 or 3 per cent.? Such diplomats, described as of the highest standing, ought to be recalled at once, he said, because, if they knew anything, they knew that the question of the debt was in the hands of Congress, and not the Diplomatic Corps.
UNITED STATES AND EUROPE.
In the present European crisis, critics are multiplying who accuse President Harding’s Administration of standing idly by and offering no constructive aid and who denounce Mr. Secretary Hughes as “dodging everything which can be dodged,” hoping perhaps that something may happen to save the situation. In the Senate this afternoon Senator Borah, once a prominent isolationist, emerged like Moses from the wilderness with a proposal that Mr. Harding be requested to call an economic conference to consider the stabilisation of the world, and it is understood that his resolution will carry with it a proposal for a conference to consider further limitations of armaments. Mr. Borah’s last effort in the same direction was headed off by the declaration that Mr. Harding was already engaged in delicate negotiations to bring about a settlement of the reparations tangle, but this time Mr. Borah indicates a less conciliatory attitude, because of the “tremendous sentiment springing up throughout the country to support his movement.” Washington correspondents declare that the whole Senate is uneasy and uncertain about the international situation, and that legislators are receiving many letters from their constituents, who complain that nothing is being done by the American government in face of a gigantic menace. The Administration’s explanation that nothing can be done at this time, and that Ministers must sit around, waiting for something to turn up, does not satisfy Mr. Borah and his friends, who predict that public opinion will support their initiative.
In framing his resolution to-day, Senator Borah derived encouragement from a Paris despatch declaring that M. Poincaré’s Government was beginning to realise that the Ruhr invasion was a “grievous adventure” and that the French are now more inclined to welcome friendly intervention by way of another Inter-allied Conference to tackle the reparations problem afresh.
CABINET DISCUSSION.
The Cabinet held a meeting yesterday evening, lasting from four o’clock until six p.m. It is understood that Mr. Baldwin made a somewhat detailed statement to his colleagues respecting his mission to America in connection with the scheme for funding the debt, and that the Ministers rose without coming to a decision.
At 10 Downing-street the only information available was that the Cabinet had adjourned until to-day.
The Central News understands that Mr. Baldwin submitted a lucid statement of the course of the negotiations and presented conclusions which were for acceptance of America’s terms. A majority of the Ministers expressed their preparedness to support Mr. Baldwin’s view that the U.S. terms were her irreducible minimum, and the debate concentrated rather on the advisability of accepting them for a short term or making a definite long-term loan of the debt, or of continuing the debt as at present in the hope that in the future it might be possible to negotiate better terms.
A point which renders decision extremely difficult and complicated is that of currency. The Chancellor reported that the opinion was current in America that the pound sterling would very soon reach parity. But this optimism was not shared by the Cabinet in view of the present European situation. The Cabinet are well aware of the very disadvantageous position in which this country would be placed if the pound sterling slumped during the next six or twelve months. Arguments on the comparative rates of interest were not emphasised.