Silence at Paris

No. 1 Committee of Experts (TIME, Dec. 10 et seq.), whose chairman is the renowned General Dawes, whose function is to report upon the means of stabilizing the German currency and of balancing the German budget, began to draft its final report.

No. 2 Committee of Experts is led by the strong, silent English financier-statesman, Reginald McKenna. Tallyho, sounded the horn, and Reginald, master of the hounds, galloped away with the pack to hunt the wily mark. The hunt is soon to end and it is hoped that chairman McKenna will present the Reparations Commission with a good big brush in the shape of a report on the amount of German capital exported and on the means which can be taken to secure it.

Although reports had not been framed and conclusions had not been definitely reached, much was written upon the activities of the two Committees, which were appointed at the end of last year by the Reparations Committee and which are working secretly in Paris.

It was stated on reliable authority that No. 1 experts will recommend the French to take a mortgage on the German railway system which, it was estimated, can produce a net profit of 800,000,000 gold marks per annum. It will also be recommended that France relinquish her hold on the Ruhr, that Germany be granted a moratorium for cash payments. On the other hand, the experts were reported to have decided that Germany can pay about $1,125,000,000 annually after three years, that she must levy higher taxation, that a gold bank must be established. They found Germany "run down" but capable of representing "the most efficient industrial organization" if "restored to health."

No. 2 Comimttee was reported to have discovered that Germany has exported abroad $2,000,000,000 of capital. Nothing "leaked out" as to the plans which the Committee has to bring this capital back to the country, and it is doubtful if the figure of the exported capital is correct.

Whatever recommendations are made by the two Committees--and they can do no more than recommend--their success in trying to disentangle the reparations problems can only be measured by the results which are obtained; and results are dependent upon Franco-Belgian acceptance of the recommendations, without which the entire work of the Commissions may have been useless.

The two men who are soon to propose an economic settlement of the most gigantic financial problem of the ages are Charles G. Dawes and the Rt. Hon. Reginald McKenna.

Of Dawes much is known; of McKenna not so much is known.

Reginald is a tall, angular man with a long student face and a type of bald head which seems to be the common affliction of able bankers. He is 60 years of age and for about 40 of those years he has devoted himself entirely to higher mathematics, law, and the study of finance. In "the City" (London's Wall Street section), Mr. McKenna is Chairman of the London Joint City and Midland Bank, one of the greatest British banks. But he is more than this; he is looked upon as one of the greatest authorities on budgetary finance and banking in the world and holds the enviable reputation of having successfully managed Britain's finances through a most difficult part of the War.

In politics Mr. McKenna is noted for his mentally mathematical preciseness. Each word has the full weight of a figure. Frugal with words, he is not a brilliant orator; but he always handles his subject with mastery and self-confidence, and rarely does anyone get the better of him on a financial disputation.

He has always been a Liberal since he first took his seat in the House of Commons in 1892. Under the Ministries of Sir Henry Campbell-Banner-man and Mr. Herbert H. Asquith he has held five Ministerial posts, including those of First Lord of the Admiralty and Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Last year ex-Premier Stanley Baldwin tried to utilize Reginald's great gifts in his Cabinet, but owing to the recalcitrant Sir George Banbury, now a peer, Mr. McKenna did not become Stanley's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir George at that time having declined to step into the House of Lords' to make room for him.

In the summer Mr. McKenna and his two sons were often to be seen at Henley-on-Thames -- that haven of aquatic sport. When he was at Cambridge he took to rowing and has ever since been passionately interested in it. Once he won the Grand and Steward's Cups at Henley, a feat which says that reginald was no mean hand with an oar.