NEWS OF THE WEEK.
rimiE proposed international Conference on the capacity .1- of Germany to pay is in danger of breaking down owing to the obstructive tactics of M. Poincare. He insists upon conditions which, in the judgment of American states- men and of everybody else outside France, would make the Conference quite useless for the practical function of obtaining reparations. At first he said that he would not consent to any inquiry unless it were con- fined to the "present (actuelle) capacity" of Germany. After a great deal of pressure had been applied to him he altered this phrase to a longer one which may be trans- lated "the capacity of Germany to pay now and in the immediate future." America thinks, and we agree, that though there has been an alteration in the words there has been none in the sense.
