The Coming Negotiations The form and method of the coming
debt discussions remain to be determined, and America, as the principal creditor, has necessarily the chief voice in that. The World Economic Conference will have abundance to occupy it besides war debts—which only concern a minority of its members—and it is to be hoped that at any rate the foundations of a settlement will have been laid before that Conference meets. The Lausanne agreements cannot be used as a pistol to hold at America's head, but they are sound and ought to stand, and they are well adapted to form the basis of the larger settlement. At Lausanne, for example, Germany's outstanding reparation obligations were scaled down to about a tenth, representing one final lump-sum payment, and both the method and the extent of the scaling-down will have to be very largely followed in regard to our American debt. • For France we have nothing but goodwill. Her decision not to pay the debt we do not criticize, though she is far better able to pay than we are. But France having had 50 per cent. of her debt remitted when the original settlement was made, and we only 20 per cent., it is manifest that the two countries do not stand on the same footing. France must conduct her own negotiations with Washington and we ours. There ought to be no misunderstanding or dissatisfaction about that at Paris.
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