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Hokitika Guardian, 16 February 1933, Page 4

Much attention was attracted by a speech delivered in the Unit'd States Senate early last month by Air W. E. Borah. “To tell you the truth,” he declared at one point, “I care verv little about debts in comparison with •the restoration of markets for the fanner, with the restoration of world trade and with the achievement of rmynctncy stub ill tv.” Fo>- life. part, if a programme could he offered which would onon markets, adjust monetary difficulties and reduce armaments, he would be willing to consider debts as part of it. Mr Borah spoke at length of the burden of debt which the Great War had laid upon the human family; of tie aopalli'g shrinkage of world trade; and of the millions of tons of shooing now idle. “Since 1929 Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Australia- and Hungary had decreased their purchases

in the United Slates by 60 per cent. Met cover, 32 nations h..d been forced to abandon the gold standard, and the United States was paying a high premium lor its .continued observance. “There is no hope,” lie said, “lor the American farmer to recover life share of world trade and to get back his farm b o long as he has to compete with nations producing the same commodities and telling them in depreciated curieuci.es.'’ fine burden of Air Borah’s speech was insistence that until reparations had luen wiped out, monetary stability had been achieved, silver had loon “given hack” to the Orient, and armaments had been le.duced, there could be no hope of recovery. His personal willingness to include discussion of foreign debts as part of so all-embracing a programme he assorted more than once, and each time with a vigorus reminder that neither cancellation of reparations alone, nor of debts alone, nor read-ju-jtent or a moratorium, in the case of either, would bring the world hack to normal prosperity.