INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES
Austro-German Pact Goes to World Court.—After withstanding two days of sharp criticism in the pan-European union committee, the proposed Austro-German customs agreement on May 18 was brought before the League Council. Here, in the opinion of supporters of the league and World Court, a great victory was gained for these institutions when Austria and Germany, under strong pressure from the other powers, consented to submit the legal questions involved to the decision of the World Court. Briefly the issue is whether Austria in making such an agreement is not violating the peace treaty of St. Germain and the Austrian debt protocol of 1922, both of which enjoin her against any engagement “of a nature to compromise her independence,” without the consent of the League Council. That the customs union will constitute such an engagement was formally argued by the French government in a memorandum 7,000 words long, which attacked the agreement from the historical and juridical standpoint, from the standpoint of its unfavorable effect on Austria herself, in its political aspects, and from the point of view of the methods used in reaching the accord.
The reference of the legal issues to the World Court was primarily of advantage as a postponement. The real test will come when the “advisory opinion” rendered by the court calls for a sacrifice of prestige by France or Germany, as the case may be. To forestall such a crisis by patching up some kind of compromise settlement will fully occupy the European chancelleries during the coming summer. Meantime, by his conciliatory attitude at Geneva, Foreign Minister Curtius has seriously weakened his own position and that of the Bruening cabinet in Germany. The Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, organ of bankers and industrialists and heretofore steadfast supporter of the Bruening government, came out after the Geneva decision with a demand for Curtius’ retirement, on the ground that the prestige of the cabinet had suffered a staggering blow at Geneva, and that Dr. Curtius no longer had the authority to administer German foreign affairs. The question was raised whether Germany would not be in a better position outside the league.
French Counter-Proposals.—To offset the very concrete and troublesome proposal of an Austro-German Zollverein, Foreign Minister Briand brought to the May meeting of the pan-European committee a scheme for the economic reorganization of Europe on a grand scale. So far-reaching and grandiose were the proposals of the twenty-four-page French memorandum, and so hazy and remote of realization, that they had the effect of an immense smoke screen beclouding the issue. The French “constructive plan for European reorganization” proposed a radical extension of the seventy or more cartels or international trusts now in existence in Europe in order to control production and competition; a further effort to lower tariff barriers by international agreements; financial aid under league auspices, with solid backing from France; and in particular, a preferential tariff system of European powers who are the chief customers of Austria to aid her in her present economic straits.
Results of Pan-European Conference.—The third meeting of the pan-European committee, May 15-21, made it clearer than ever that M. Briand’s plan of a pan-European union has dwindled to schemes for economic cooperation. To bring closer to practical realization the innumerable proposals presented, the conference brought into being an elaborate machinery of committees and sub committees, headed by a “coordinating committee” which is to begin work on July 6, coordinating and amplifying the conclusions submitted by the various special commissions. A committee on disposal of the wheat surplus was to meet on June 10. A meeting of cartel experts was set for June 24. Other committees were to deal with tariffs, Austrian finances, and problems of transportation. On the recommendation of the pan-European committee the League Council approved the establishment of an international farm credit bank at Geneva, and a convention establishing it was signed by thirteen states. It was expected to be in operation by next autumn.
On all these committees the Soviet Republic was represented, except the committee on unemployment, in which M. Litvinoff declared Russia was not greatly concerned.
Russia Offers Economic Truce.—One definite benefit from M. Briand’s pan-European scheme is that it has brought the Soviet Republic face to face with other European powers in discussion of economic problems which simply cannot be settled with Russia left out. While strict limitations were placed beforehand on the parts which Russia and Turkey were to be allowed to take in the May meeting of the pan-Euro- pean union committee, the Soviet representative M. Litvinoff, soon made his proposals the center of discussion. Ready, apparently, for a working agreement between communist Russia and capitalistic Europe, M. Litvinoff proposed what he called an “economic non-aggression pact.” According to the resolution which he presented, the European nations were to be invited to sign an agreement “solemnly confirming the principle proclaimed at the international economic conference in 1927 of the peaceful coexistence of countries irrespective of their social, political, and economic systems.” And the parties were to agree “not to adopt in their relations with each other any discrimination whatsoever. ...”
M. Litvinoff’s proposal was received with pleased surprise but also with some suspicion, and the best the committee would do was to refer it to its coordinating subcommittee for “further study.”
Austria’s Financial Straits.—The present critical condition of Austria’s finances undoubtedly contributed considerably toward making her amenable to reason in the matter of her trade agreement with Germany. While this latter question was before the League Council, Austria was at the same time applying to the international commission on Austrian loan control, in which France, England, and Italy have a decisive vote, for permission to negotiate a new loan of 100,000,000 schillings, or about $14,000,000. This was ultimately approved; and subsequently the Bank of International Settlements, at its first annual director’s meeting on May 18, offered without direct solicitation to advance this sum immediately for the assistance of the Austrian State Bank. At the same time Austria was reported to have completed arrangements for an additional $21,000,000 loan, on permission already allowed her, with the Rothchilds and a group of French bankers.
Plans for Arms Conference.—With the approval of the British cabinet, Foreign Minister Arthur Henderson of England on May 21 formally accepted from the League Council the office of president of the Limitation of Armaments Conference set for next February. Mr. Henderson accepted the office personally rather than as an official of the British government, and it is understood that he will assume the position whether or not the labor government remains in power. The council also decided definitely on Geneva as the meeting place for the conference. As for the date, there have been persistent rumors that France might propose at least a three-months’ postponement, from February to perhaps June, which would give further opportunity for solving the Franco-Italian naval controversy and would put the conference at a time when the French parliamentary elections would be out of the way.
Opening of Narcotics Parley.—Representatives of fifty countries assembled at Geneva on May 27 for a conference on control of the manufacture of drugs and narcotics. At the head of the American delegation was John K. Caldwell of U. S. State Department, who was elected a vice-president of the conference—the first instance, it was believed, of an American government official assisting in such capacity in an assembly under league auspices. The chief work of the conference was to consider a draft convention on drug manufacture and traffic prepared by a subcommittee of the league opium board, the general aim of which was to put each country on a quota basis with government control. At the time of going to press no agreement had been reached acceptable both to the American delegates and to those of the other powers.
London Wheat Conference.—The London wheat conference, third international gathering to solve the problem presented by the immense world wheat surplus, met at London May 18-24, with delegates from the United States, Canada, Argentina, Australia, and the chief European grain- producing countries, including the Soviet Republic. In general the proposed remedies were along two lines—reduction of acreage, and stabilization of prices by establishing of quotas and placing the marketing under an international board of control. Save for an exchange of views, nothing definite was accomplished. The chief American delegate, Samuel R. McKelvie of the U. S. Federal Farm Board, declared that the United States would decline to join any international pool, but would market its surplus in an orderly way, without dumping. Russia, while accepting the quota system “in principle,” declared that she intended next year to produce 36 ½ million tons, or 7 million more than last year, and that her quota must be on the basis of her pre-war production, when the Russian exports were twice that of any other grain-exporting nation.
EUROPEAN NATIONS
Doumer Elected French President.— Between the opening of the French parliament on May 5 and the election of president by the Chamber and Senate meeting as a National Assembly on May 13, attention was concentrated in the close rivalry for the presidential office between Paul Doumer, President of the Senate and Conservative candidate, and Foreign Minister Aristide Briand, who entered the race on the appeal of a large group of Center and Left Center parties. On the first ballot there was no majority, M. Doumer receiving 442 votes to 401 for M. Briand, with about 50 votes for minor candidates. M. Briand thereupon withdrew and M. Doumer was elected by a vote of 504 to 334. Though seventy-four years of age, the new president is robust and energetic, a self-made man from Auvergne in Central France, who began life as a metal engraver but has been in national politics for nearly forty-five years.
M. Briand’s defeat was accounted for largely by the rise of nationalistic sentiment and hostility toward his conciliatory policies. For a time it was expected that he would resign from the conduct of foreign affairs, but upon his return from the May meetings at Geneva, and upon the urging of both M. Doumer and Premier Laval, he decided to continue in control.
French Loans in Eastern Europe.— Another extension of French credit to the Little Entente powers was completed on May 8, when it was announced that agreement had finally been reached on the terms of a $42,000,000 loan to Jugoslavia. The loan will be handled by a group of French bankers and more than half will be sold in the French market. As a condition of the agreement Jugoslavia gave assurances that she would assume the 5 ¼ per cent share of the debt of the old Ottoman Empire apportioned to her in the peace settlement.
Fears of German Debt Suspension.— It was generally assumed in European political circles that the June conference at Chequers, England, between the British and German premiers and foreign ministers, would certainly be seized upon by Germany as an opportunity for raising the question of suspending reparations payments. It is estimated that the fall in prices has increased Germany’s debt burden at least 30 per cent, and that nothing, unless it were a huge loan to Germany from abroad, can prevent suspension of payments. With approval obtained at Chequers, Germany’s next step would presumably be a formal request for the appointment of an advisory committee on her ability to pay, which would be presented at the monthly meeting of the World Bank board on June 10.
In case of a delay in German payments, France will undoubtedly take advantage of the debt suspension clauses in her own agreements with England and America, which give her the right, up to 1932, of partial or total stoppage of payments for three years.
Anticlerical Riots.—In both Spain and Italy the month of May was marked by government measures hostile to the Catholic Church and by popular attacks on church organizations. In Spain, on May 10-11, church property was burned and plundered with a resultant damage estimated at over $1,000,000, the attacks being concentrated on the Jesuit College and Jesuit headquarters at Madrid. In other cities churches were burned and pillaged. Martial law was put in effect, and government proclamations laid the blame in common on Monarchist and Communist extremists, equally bent on discrediting the republic. From the Vatican came protests both at the destruction of property and the unwarranted action of the Spanish government in proclaiming religious freedom while the concordat is still in effect which makes Catholicism the official state religion. Separation of church and state, if desired, could be accomplished, it was held, in such a way as not to offend the Holy See.
In Italy the anticlerical movement took the form of bitter press attacks, followed by government suspension of the Catholic action organizations throughout Italy for alleged political interference, as well as Catholic institutions for the training of Italian youth.
New British Land Tax.—The most notable feature of Chancellor Snowden’s May budget speech in the British House of Commons was his land valuation proposal, as a preliminary to the levy of a 2/5 of 1 per cent tax on all land in the United Kingdom not used for agriculture. Such a tax, it is estimated, will yield $250,000,000 a year, though because of the tremendous task of evaluating 10,000,000 pieces of real estate beforehand, it cannot be put in effect earlier than 1934.
In defending his measure Mr. Snowden stood frankly on the socialistic doctrine of “the right of the country to ownership of the land,” declared its effect would be “to cheapen land and throw it open to use,” and prophecied that its advantages would begin to accrue the instant it became a law. The measure was approved in the Commons by a vote of 289 to 230, and as it has been made part of a finance bill it cannot be effectively fought in the House of Lords.
UNITED STATES AND NEW WORLD
American Defense in “I’m Alone” Case.—The American reply to the Canadian bill of particulars in the I’m Alone rumrunning case was completed in May, according to Washington reports, and ready to be forwarded to Ottawa about June 10. The defense is said to rest primarily on the contention that the vessel was in reality American owned—by the Danny Hogan liquor ring of New York—and that this would throw out the Canadian claim for damages.
The American reply is fortified with precedents holding that with the ownership of the vessel held in the United States there is no cause for damages. The case of the vessel Fortune, seized by Great Britain during the War of 1812 when that ship was flying the Portuguese flag, is cited. The British maintained successfully that the mask of the Portuguese flag should be torn off and the case considered upon the basis of its real American ownership. The arbitrators held the Fortune rightfully forfeited to Great Britain. .
This precedent was used by Great Britain in the World War when British warships seized the Konkekee and other vessels of German ownership which were being operated by Hugo Stinnes under the American flag.—New York Times, May 27
Unrest in Argentina.—That political and economic disturbances are still threatening in Latin America is quite evident from the typical case of Argentina, where popular sentiment is turning rapidly against the provisional government set up recently by General Uriburu. Following an unexpected victory for the Radicals in the Buenos Ayres provincial elections of April 5, elections in the other three provinces were postponed, and it was only under strong pressure of public opinion that President Uriburu finally set the date for provincial elections to coincide with the national elections next November. In April Uriburu also reorganized his cabinet, excluding ministers closely connected with the Conservative party and giving it a more non-political character. Nevertheless the Conservative government apparently faces defeat in a fair election, and is threatened with a revolution—more serious than the last—should it seek by other means to retain its control.
Commerce Congress in Washington.— Of chief interest at the sixth biennial Congress of International Chambers of Commerce, which met at Washington, May 4-8, was the conflict between foreign delegates who sought to center attention on American high tariffs and cancellation of war debts, and the American delegates who strove with fair success to keep the Congress from definite action on these subjects. Attending the session were about 1,000 business men from thirty-five nations. President Hoover in his address of welcome appealed for reduction of armaments as a measure of economic relief, pointing out that the $5,000,000,000 annual European expenditure on war measures was twenty times the amount paid each year to America in debt settlements.
The congress passed a resolution favoring an international silver conference, and in its final resolutions made a mild approach toward the international debt problem, declaring that while the “integrity of international obligations” must be maintained, “observance of this important principle is not inconsistent with an impartial examination of the effects of these obligations on international trade.”
FAR EAST
China’s New Constitution.—The People’s Convention assembled at Nanking by the Chinese Nationalist government accomplished during its session from May 5-17 the purpose for which it was brought into being—that of ratifying a provisional constitution which is to remain in effect until the Kuomintang sees fit to turn over the country to actual popular rule. Adopted virtually in the form in which it was presented to the convention by the government, the chief change made by the new document is that it increases the power of the chairman of the State Council, the post now held by Marshal Chiang Kai-shek. The chairman now has the power to name all cabinet officers, heads of the five governing Yuans, and chairmen of all government commissions, subject only to the approval of the council, whereas formerly this power of appointment rested in the council as a body without specific direction from the chairman. The constitution went into effect on June 1.
The Southern Revolt.—During May the movement in Southern China against the Nationalist government gathered strength from the adhesion of former foreign Minister Eugene Chen and a number of other political and military malcontents; while at the same time the mutiny against the Canton leaders of troops at the Wham- pao Military Academy and elsewhere indicated that there was no great unity in the southern camp. The whole movement was avowedly directed not against the Central government as such, but against the alleged autocratic methods of President Chiang. While there were reports of large troop movements south of Hankow, the Nanking leaders appeared less concerned over the disturbances in the south than over the nearer threat of banditry and rebellion in the central provinces.