31 JANUARY 1925, Page 1

The tension between America and France over the qUestion of

the Debts does not seem to have been relieved by recent events. M. Marin, the Minister of the Liberated Areas, in M. Poineare's Government, • made what is described as an hysterical speech in the Chamber of Deputies, in which he frankly took the line that Allied sacrifices and losses- were pooled during the War, and that America could no more demand repayment of her dollars than France could demand back her dead. This some- what emotional view has never found much favour across the Atlantic, where it is pointed out that much of the American credits have been used by France for her own particular objects, such as subsidizing the Little -Entente, building up the French colonial empires, &c., &c. • * * *