The Committees

Owing to Christmas and New Year festivities, the past week has been one of inactivity.

Official convention dates for the two committees which are to inquire into German finances were set by the Reparations Commission.

No. 1 Committee, which is to inquire into the means of creating a stable currency for Germany and of balancing the budget, is to meet on Jan. 14. No. 2 Committee, which is to compute the total of German wealth abroad and report on how it can be tapped, will meet Jan. 21. This delay was caused by the nomination (TIME, Dec. 31) of Henry M. Robinson, President of the First National Bank of Los Angeles, to serve on No. 2 Committee. He cannot arrive in Paris before that time.

Charles G. Dawes and Owen D. Young, who are to serve on No. 1 Committee, left the U. S. on board the America en route for France. Before leaving, the two 'delegates lunched with Roland W. Boyden, U. S. unofficial observer on the Reparations Commission, at the Bankers' Club in Manhattan.

Owen D. Young, who is Chairman of the Board of the General Electric Co., said on the eve of his departure: "The thing I want to know first is the point of view of the men we are to be associated with, the attitude of these men as it reflects the point of view of their respective nations. I want to know the plans they have in mind and what they propose to do. It would be wholly unwise and presumptuous, I think, for Americans to come in with any preconceived plan of our own. The less the American representatives get lost in the underbrush of all these so-called 'facts' the better."

On board the America he said to reporters: "I have the impartiality of ignorance. I regard the questions to be settled by our committee as business questions only. I hope they will be approached in that spirit with a determination to get a constructive answer speedily."

General Dawes, who marched on shipboard, "wearing a striped shirt with a blue spotted tie and a dark suit," made it plain to reporters who tried to interview him that he was not out for any "damned publicity." Asked if he were hopeful of reparations ever being paid, he retorted: "None of your damned business. It's no use you fellows getting brain fag by thinking up conundrums to put to me before the ship sails, because I 'do not intend to answer them. I can tell you that I am paying my own fare to France, and am not receiving any pay for my services on the committee."

The reporter followed him on board ship in another effort to get a statement from him. "Hell and Maria!" he roared. "Go away from me; I am about to lose my temper!"