News of the Week T HE Prime Minister returns from Washington,
as he has been careful to insist, as free of commitments as when he went. That is as it should be. The object 9f the visit was to make contacts, to create an atmosphere and to sketch out a programme of procedure. But if the President and the Prime Minister remain uncom- mitted to a precise course of action they have committed themselves to some very far-reaching principles. " Simul- taneous action in the economic and the monetary field," " moderation of the network of restrictions, such as excessive tariffs, quotas, exchange restrictions, &c.," " adequate expansion of credit," " re-establishment of an international monetary standard," " the question of silver "—there is as definite and as extensive a programme here as any International Economic Con- ference could be expected to ask for. It is a necessary and a sound programme, though the introduction of the vexed silver question—the Senate has just agreed to give the President power to remonetize silver and for the unlimited free coinage Of gold and silver—is likely to prolong and :complicate the debates considerably. Altogether there is no question of the psychological success of the Prime Minister's visit, and its practical value seems likely to be hardly less. And if, as seems likely, the Conference is convened for June 12th, the case for at ,any rate a temporary postponement of the debt-payments due on June 15th will be overwhelming.
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