" Short of force ..."

THE "CABINET

At Philadelphia, Mr. Andrew William Mellon, Secretary of the U. S. Treasury, able capitalist and financier, spoke before his industrial peers of the ultraconservative Union League Club upon international debts:

"Some of the debt settlements we have negotiated have been criticized because it is claimed that pur failure to collect the last cent imposes an avoidable burden upon our taxpayers. I pass over the practical fact that we have, I believe, made for the United States the most favorable settlements which could be obtained short of force. The original criticism is without perspective and does not take conditions in their true relative importance. . . .

"A business man would prefer making $100 in his business to being repaid $5 of a debt. The farmer or the laboring man would rather have a market for our surplus in Europe than save a dollar of Federal taxes. . . .

"Europe cannot continue to be a great consumer unless it be restored to health. If, however, we can help the nations abroad get on their feet, produce wealth, pay better wages and buy, we share in their prosperity. Just let me give you an instance. In negotiating the debt settlement with one of the smaller nations, it was shown that the minimum of existence in that country, a scale at-which the bulk of the peasants are now living, was $31 per man per year. This included no meat, one suit of clothes and one pair of sandals a year. Think what it would mean in the aggregate to us to have that country be able to increase the standard of living there so as to include meat once a week, a cotton shirt once a month, and another pair of shoes, and to have the bulk of the goods bought in America. . . .

"I have spoken tonight entirely from a material standpoint, not because I feel that America owes no moral obligation to assist other peoples to work their way out of the wreckage of war. We do, and we will carry out this duty. . . .

Fight On. At Washington Senator Smoot of Utah (Republican) launched the Administration's fight for ratification of the U. S.--Italian Debt Settlement, in a speech closely paralleling that made at Philadelphia by Secretary Mellon. He appealed for Senate ratification on the grounds that "Italy is one of our best customers." He scotched any expectation that France will get as lenient terms: "There is no comparison between the two debts, and I want to assure the Senators now personally that no such settlement will ever be made with France as has been made with Italy." Simultaneously with Mr. MelIon's address, the Chancellor of the British Exchequer was speaking upon the same subject (see COMMONWEALTH).

In the Senate. No sooner was the U. S.-Italian settlement taken up in the Senate than Democratic Floor Leader Robinson launched a fierce attack upon both the bill itself and Premier Mussolini. There was every indication that the Democrats intend if possible to embarras the Administration by stirring up hostile opinion on both sides of the ocean.