Mr. Hoover on War Debts It was not to be
expected that Mr. Hoover, in his address accepting nomination as Republican candidate for the Presidency, would expound his policy without a careful regard for the use that his opponents would make of it. There need, then, be no surprise at his insistence that the War debts due to the United States must not be cancelled and that the high American tariff which has prevented the debtors from paying the interest on those loans must be upheld. Mr. Hoover probably knows as well as we do that the two propositions are incompatible, but for electoral reasons he is bound to adhere to both of them. He expressed the hope that the drastic reduction of armaments which he has proposed would enable America's debtors to save " a large part of the cost of their payments " to the United States. He also threw out the suggestion that tariff concessions to American trade might be accepted in compensation for unpaid loan interest. But here again the high American tariff blocks the way, for one- way trade from America to Europe is impossible. If Mr. Hoover is re-elected, he will doubtless be prepared to take a more practical view of the debt problem. His election speeches are unlikely to be helpful.
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