The Allied statesmen at the Genoa Conference seem to have
devoted most of their time to private discussions of the Russian problem. The recommendations of their financial exports, which were published, gave first place to the recognition by the Bolsheviks of the Russian debts incurred up to 1917, and of losses sustained by foreigners since that time. A Debt Com- mission composed of Russian and foreign members and mixed arbitral tribunals should determine the liabilities of Russia and issue bonds based on the gold value of tho rouble in October, 1917. Foreigners should resume possession of their property, as far as possible, so that the industries formerly carried on by them might be revived. The experts suggested that free zones should bo established in some of the ports to facilitate trade. The Bolshevik delegates, who were received in private by Mr. Lloyd George, appear to have rejected most of the experts' proposals.
