SIGNIFICANT VISIT

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 112, 28 May 1937, Page 6

SIGNIFICANT VISIT

Air Mail. )

Belgian Premier Going To America POLITICS & ECONOMICS

(Own Correspondent — By

WASHINGTON, May 6. M. Paul van Zeeland,^ the newlyendorsed chief of the Belgian Cabinet an.d* the latest travelling-emissary for the democracies and neutrals in Europe, is coming to Washington on or about June 12 to coinfer with Presideut Eoosevelt. The van Zeeland visit springs nomim ally, Presideut Eoosevelt eaid to-day, from the f act that Princeton University,, where M. van Zeeland studied, is awarding him an honorary degree this spring, But it is dif&cult to decdde which came llrst,. the hen or the egg — the Princeton degree or the White House vislt. M. van Zeeland, even before his re- ' , cent triumph at the pOlls, was delegated by several Eurepean Powers to study world economic conditions, with a view to a possible" joint effort at amelioration. He is at the moment at the focal point of European negotiations. Kepresentatitives of the Oslo group have been conferring with him in Brussels and Dr. Hjalmar Schacht, director of the Eeichsbank, has been on mission to confer with M. van Zeeland. «! Spokesman for Neutrals. Thus the coming White House visitor would xepresent a new note in Washington — a spokesman priniarily for the neurals, who are nOw standing more or less half-way- between the BritishPrench 'grouping, and Germany and Italy. Latterly, the American sympathy for Germany which was so marked the days of the republic has been waning. British efforts to arouse American enthusiasm in new financial assistance for the Keich have met with tacit rebuffs. But M. van Zeeland may be able to speak more persu&sively. His talk to President Eoosevelt, if it follows the main lines apparently laid down for him and his country in Europe, would stress the "good neighbour" position of the Osio group- - fNorway, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, Pinland — asubject likely to interest the American Executive at once. # Tariff Disarmament. •i Moreover, the latpst objective of this group is to procded toward their tariff disarmament as originally pledgcd in the Oslo convention of 1930. This aim fits closely with the Hull programme. Altogether, therei'ore, M. van Zeeland is likely to be a welcome guest in Washington, from polifcical and economic viewpoints. His mission — if he has one — seems to have dietinctly interest- i ing possibilities at engaging the United States in an altogether new approach to the European pfoblem. Instead of coming through Britain, it comes through the neutralB, and neutrality is a popular word in the United States these days. The Belgian Premier has not only the prestige of hcs smashing electoral victory, but his American background. A foTmer giuauate etudent and teachor at Princeton University. his electoral opponent, M. Leon Degrelle, leader of the Eexists, said Professor van Zeeland was "tainted with Americanisms, ' ' and. accused , the economics • instructor of "copying economie policies off the blackboard3 of the Eoosevelt Brain Trust;" This reputation will not be amisa in Washington.