FROM JULY 23 TO AUGUST 23
RESULTS OF LONDON CONFERENCE
Agreement Between Germany and Allies.—The “London Conference on Application of the Plan Presented to the Reparation Commission on April 9, 1924, by the First Committee of Experts, Appointed by it on November 30, 1923,” reached final agreement on August 16, and embodied the results in a protocol with four annexes, signed by Germany and the Allied Powers. The representatives of the United States, “with specifically limited powers,” did not sign.
Preliminary agreement having been reached by the allied powers on August 2, the German representatives were then invited to come to London for final negotiations which were brought to a successful result after about ten days of discussion. The chief stumbling block in these negotiations was the date of French and Belgian evacuation of the Ruhr. In the end the French and Belgian Premiers, in letters to the German Chancellor, pledged their governments to complete military evacuation by August 16, 1925, one year from the date of signing the protocol.
Referring to the outcome, Prime Minister MacDonald declared it “the first really negotiated document since the war.” According to the terms of the agreement, the execution of the “Dawes Plan” is contingent upon the successful raising of the proposed loan to Germany of 800,000,000 gold marks.
It was expected that the agreement would be ratified without difficulty by the German and French parliaments, although French Nationalists protested against the "bartering away” of France’s strong position in the Ruhr.
The final agreement was greatly assisted by the American representatives, Ambassador Kellogg and Colonel Logan, the American observer on the Reparation Commission, and by the visit of Secretary Hughes to European capitals during the progress of the negotiations.
Terms of Protocol.—The protocol itself is merely a statement that agreements have been reached and are mutually interdependent.
Annex 1 is a repetition of the agreement of August 9 between the Reparation Commission and Germany to put into execution the Dawes Plan and to submit disputes of interpretation to arbitration.
Annex 2 provides elaborate machinery for arbitration in case of disagreement over interpretation. Three arbitrators are to be appointed for five years, one by the Reparation Commission, one by Germany, and one by agreement, or failing agreement, by the president of the Permanent Court of International Justice. Special committees, with American or neutral chairmen, are provided to settle disputes over programs of deliveries in kind, and “financial maneuvers” called for in execution of the plan.
Annex 3 embodies agreements between the allied governments and Germany as regards financial cooperation, removal of customs restrictions between occupied and unoccupied Germany, and amnesty for political prisoners in occupied regions.
Annex 4 provides for an American member of the Reparation Commission, to act and vote on any question relating to the Dawes Plan. The Reparation Commission, thus constituted, will decide any question of German default, provided, however, that any member of the commission may appeal the decision within eight days to a neutral arbitral commission of three who shall be appointed either unanimously by the Reparation Commission, or failing unanimity, by the president of the Permanent Court of Justice. The chairman of this commission must be a United States citizen.
Preliminary Agreement ok Allies.—Prior to inviting German representatives to London, the allied powers in preliminary discussions reached agreement on all points of policy relative to the execution of the Dawes Plan. The chief difficulty was as to who should decide a question of German default. This was settled by provision for an American member of the Reparation Commission, as stated above.
It was further agreed that a conference on inter-allied debts should be held in Paris in the near future. It was announced that an American representative would attend.
GREAT BRITAIN
Ulster Boundary Problem.—In the House of Commons on August 1, British Colonial Secretary J. H. Thomas stated that, in case the government of Northern Ireland refused to appoint a representative to the Boundary Commission, provided by the treaty, to determine the boundary between Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State, the British government would introduce a bill designed to bring about the results intended by the treaty.
The attitude of the Ulster government has been that it would appoint a representative on the Boundary Commission only provided it was clearly understood that the function of the commission was to adjust the boundary and not transfer whole tracts of territory.
Anglo-Russian Treaties Signed—On August 6 it was announced in parliament that the conference of British and Soviet representatives in London had agreed upon both a general and a commercial treaty. The commercial treaty, it was stated, followed the usual lines, save that, in view of the Soviet government monopoly of foreign trade, diplomatic concessions were granted to Russian government trade delegates in British possessions. (It has been asserted that, in the case of other governments, trade delegates thus privileged have been active in propaganda.)
On the British promise of a loan, the Soviet representatives pledged their government not to sequestrate foreign property in Russia, to cease propaganda in British Dominions, and to recognize the debt to British creditors as fixed later by a claims commission.
EASTERN EUROPE
Soviet Activity in Balkans.—N. Y. Times, August 2.—Vienna, August 1.—According to a dispatch from Athens, the Greek General Staff has informed the Foreign Office that the army has received orders to pursue any Bulgarian comitodjis making raids into Greek Macedonia, and has requested the Greek Foreign Office to inform the great powers of this decision. The unrest is said to be largely stirred up by the Soviet Government which finds fruitful soil for its propaganda in the still disorganized countries of the peninsula. Enormous sums are being spent, it is said, in Bulgaria, Greece and Rumania, where the Bolsheviki have far-reaching organizations, which are said to be behind the Bulgarian raids into Greece
The Communist strength in Bulgaria is still considerable, and even growing, and is reinforced by the intense dissatisfaction of the Bulgarian people with the territorial settlement in Macedonia. As in Hungary the policy of the allies toward Bulgaria has tended to bring about a working agreement between Communists and Nationalists, the former opposing the entente on the ground that it is capitalistic and the latter as pro-Serbian Moscow is naturally exploiting Bulgarian bitterness in the hope of upsetting the none too stable settlement in Southeastern Europe.
Paris, August I.—The present situation in the Balkans is known here to present two grave features: First, Bolshevist agitation, financed by Bulgaria and equipped by Soviet Russia, and, second, Macedonian agitation in those Parts of Macedonia belonging to Serbia and Greece, under peace treaties. From the best Bulgarian sources the Tribune is informed that the Communistic revolts which have broken out in the various country districts of Bulgaria have been armed, uniformed and equipped by Soviet money, coming into Bulgaria from Vienna. It is declared that these revolts—which in the past week have been bloodily repressed—take the form of manifestations in favor of the Stambulisky party, which was overthrown in the last Bulgarian revolution, when Premier Stambulisky was assassinated and a new government established.
From the exterior Bulgaria is faced with a real conflict with Serbia and Greece if the aggressions of the Macedonian and Bulgarian comitajis or frontier guerillas, continue.