sine 10.
Will the meeting at Chequers this last week-end have an. important bearing on the endea. yours which all nations would like to see made for solving the critical state of the world's economic fabric? It is tobe hoped that the event was more than the first post-bellum re~ union of German and British statesmen on British soil. That, reunion is welcome enough but, after all, it merely symbolizes a change of thought which has found firm currency. It should not be forgotten that Dr. Stresemann, whose death has been almost a calamity for Europe, shook hands with M, Briand ov the table at the Foreign Office at the signing of the Locarno Pact, which gave Sir Austen Chamber-his Garter. M. Briand is still at the Quai D'Orsay and the apparent set-back which the Presidential election administered to his policy has been swiftly countered' by the—growing strength of the feeling that} conciliation is an essential instrument of financial reconstruction, Whatever doubts may Ihave been created by the circumstances of the announce-mont of the proposed Austro-German Pact, they have been modified by' the subsequent proceedings at Geneva and by the reference to the Hague Tribunal, even if the new President of France, himself no enemy of peace, will assume office next Saturday by virtue of the strong support of the Right elements in French politics. In England the conviction that the world problem of economic stress must be studied with disregard of political prejudices has steadily gained ground. In France the same feeling would find a firm footing, provided certain fears could be allayed. It should not be beyond the power of the statesmen, who have now had a first-hand glimpse into British minds, to devise the necessary sedatives. For, in many respects, the barriers created by the War Treaties have been broken down. The nations of Europe and, in no small measure, the nations across the Atlantic are faced with a crisis which can be met!
tisfactorily only by a common policy framed by consent and carried into effect on the hi of international cooperation.
Proposals have been tentative ly mentioned. To-day there is talk of a moratorium. It is designed probably to meet the view that the cancellation. of debts is unthinkable. The Ge man Government have just made a remarkable gesture and accompanied it with a dignified repudiation of the idea that] Germany intends to evade or to ask to default from her liabili-Uies. This accords with the solemn British statement that] the discharge of the American War Debt is an_ unescapable moral obligation. British, statesmen may have come to the conclusion that the funding of the debt was effected on lines less advantageous to their country! than might have been arranged had there been less precipitancy in returning to a gold standard. They will not admit that this would justify any argument for the variation of the agreement, in the sense of reducing the obligation in sum. This does not preclude consideration of a proposal for a moratorium, although, it will be granted, that should be regarded as a last resort. To those who are troubled by the plight of the er exchanges it will be clear that the crisis which Europe is now facing includes their special problem. The price of silver is the symptom of the disco which it is imperative that statesmen should tackle if the spectre of world-insolvency to be laid.
The fear of Bolshevism is present to many minds in Europe to-day—not because of aay stupid belief in that crazy creed, but simply because, with nations with individuals, the psychological effect of crushing! debt is the same. The man who, in spite of all his economies, his retrenchments, his energies in working, sees himself still faced by debt which appears to be not' merely beyond his capacity. to pay but definitely condemning him to servitude, is apt to. become desperate. Desperation leads to crime. With nations it
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.