Negotiations Resumed

The same day that the Senate approved the Italian debt settlement, Secretary of the Treasury Mellon announced that the American Debt Funding Commission would meet with the French Ambassador, Henry Berenger, to resume negotiations for settlement of the French debt of $4,000,000,000.

Next morning the meeting was held. It lasted less than 30 minutes. M. Berenger made a concrete offer and a little speech. Unlike M. Caillaux's debt efforts, there was a minimum of publicity. Not even M. Berenger's speech was made public. His offer was said to be better than Caillaux's. The American Commission took a few days to consider the proposal, and an aura of hopefulness floated over the White House and Treasury Department.

After consideration, the Commission sent back M. Berenger's offer, asking him to> revise it so that larger payments would be made by France in the early years.