WORLD CO-PERATION

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 243, 4 June 1932, Page 4

WORLD CO-PERATION

In all the spate of what the London Financial Times^has called "this process of referring, conferring and- -def erring" re-; garding the world- wide economic crisis, the most hopeful^ proposal yet made is the suggestion of the British Prime Minister, Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, that the Lausanne reparations conference should immediately be followed by a conference of the PoWers there represented, with the addition as full participants of the United States, to examine the possibilities of co-operation in re-establishing world trade and finance on a sound basis; .In Europe the close relationship between war debts and reparations and trade and currency problems is fully recognised, but so far it has been impossible, for fairly obvious reasons, to bring the United States to an acknowledgement of this fact. America, of course, as the world's creditor, is primarily interested in maintaining unimpaired the principle that debts, whether private oy national, must be paid under any and all circumstances in strict accordance with the terms of the contract. What she has so far stubbornly ref used to admit is the fact that between nations as between individuals it is sometimes necessary for the creditor, in his own interests, to waive some of his rights and forego portion of his claims in order to protect the balance. This attitude on the part of America is the explanation of her eonsistent refusal to participate in any real sense in European efforts to find a way out of the maze in which the great war left it. Innumerable efforts have been made by one European country after another, and by all together, to induce America to alter her attitude, but so far without success. If, therefore, Mr. MacDonald's latest proposal is accepted by the United States and she at last agrees to take her place at an international conference table as a full member without reservations, he will have won a notable diplomatic victory. The prospects of success in this direction, however, depend almost wholly upon the results of the Lausanne reparations conference. If, feeling as strongly as they do the inseparability of the reparations, debt and economic questions, the Powers fail to devise a formula acceptable to the Americans, either by concessions to the American point of view, or by the compelling logic of their reasons for their decisions, it is doubtful whether much real progress is to be expected. One thing, however, they must do ;f success is to crown their eiforts; they must prove beyond question that they have all at last realisecl that the time is past for a selfish nationalistic attitude and that they are all prepared and resolved to co-operate with each other, friends and enemies alike, and with America, in seeking a final solution of the problems confronting them before a final coiiapse of the present system becomes inevitable. This being so, the most vital _ actor will be the attitude aaopted by France and Germany, 1. either of whom has yet given any reliable indication of its real intentions. Should they continue their past attitude of suspicious hostility toward one another, it is highly improbable that America will consent to co-operate with Europe upon any terms except her own. These, she has made only too clear, include the payment of the last cent of interest and principal owed to her by the countries of Europe, probably an impossible task in any circumstances; certainly so under present conditions. From the British point of view therefore, as America's aebtor largely on behalf of her late allies, the results at Lausanne will be of supreme importance. This explains the British Government's anxiety for its success, and also why the Empire Economic Conference at Ottawa, which will follow, is also looked upon as possibly the most momentous in Imperial history. For at Ottawa, should Lausanne fail, an attempt must be made to preserve the Empire from the worst effects of Europe's shortsightedness.