At a full committee meeting of the Reparations Experts on
Tuesday an amended schedule of claims by the four creditor Powers was presented to Dr. Schacht and dis- cussed. The German delegate still maintains that the Allied figures do not bear the necessary relation to Germany's capacity to pay. We are glad to note, how- ever, that despite the pessimism at home his tone has been all along eminently reasonable, and he has never suggested that the creditors' demands are in the nature of an " ultimatum." Counter-proposals from the German delegation were obviously the next move. There is still in reserve the intermediate estimate standing in the name of Mr. Owen Young. The Committee have wisely refrained from publishing the figures and conditions now being bandied about. But the French Press continues no less pessimistic than the German, the opinion being openly expressed that the present discussions are taking place a year too soon. We do not agree. The Dawes plan has already proved itself, but it is in the interest of all the nations to take the Reparations question finally and completely out of politics.
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