Stimson to Bessinge

When she sailed from Manhattan last week S. S. Ile de France carried seven million dollars in gold, withdrawn from the U. S. by French dollar-libelers.* One of her passengers was Thomas William Lamont, Morgan partner, off for a four-week holiday. Another passenger was Frank Billings Kellogg, onetime Secretary of State, bound for his post on the World Court at The Hague. A third was Charles Hitchcock Sherrill, going to his new diplomatic post, U. S. Ambassador to Turkey. Most important person aboard the liner was Secretary of State Stimson en route to Geneva and the League of Nation's Disarmament Conference. Arriving in Manhattan from Washington, Statesman Stimson immediately boarded the lie de France, popped into his promenade deck stateroom, refused to see newshawks. His military aide handed out a stiff uninformative little communique in which the Secretary declared that it "appears" that there was a "prospect" that the Conference might "ultimately" agree upon some measure ''to limit the chances of war." Secretary Stimson was being sent to Geneva by President Hoover to "explore the possibilities" (a favorite Hooverism) of Disarmament. The Conference had been sitting two months. It was making no progress perceptible to Washington. Statesman Stimson was presumably to do one of two things: 1) breathe new life into the meeting; 2) prepare to give it a diplomatically decent burial. For this task he was allowing himself about a month at Geneva, the length of time for which Bessinge, a villa three miles out of town, had been rented in his name. Though Disarmament was the ostensible purpose of the Stimson trip, most observers were convinced that it also bore a large if unofficial relationship to War Debts & Reparations. The Hoover Moratorium expires June 30. If foreign nations fail to pay the $270,000,000 due next year, U. S. taxpayers must pay that much more to balance their Budget. The German people, from whom Debt payments ultimately come, have no item for Reparations in their 1932-33 budgetary estimates. But President Hoover is determined that Europe shall make the next debt move. Therefore last week after explaining the purpose of the Stimson trip, the President declared: "There will be no discussion or negotiation by the Secretary on the debt question." This did not mean, according to most interpretations, that Mr. Stimson would not listen to any debt talk. If there was one black cloud in Secretary Stimson's sky last week, it was the ruthless disregard the House had for his views opposing Philippine independence. In February he wrote a letter to Senator Bingham in which, as onetime Governor General of the Islands, he declared that U. S. withdrawal would result in "economic chaos and political and social anarchy, followed ultimately by domination of the Philippines by some foreign power, probably either China or Japan." This letter was released to the House which promptly voted (306-to-47), to free the Islands. Such unguarded words from the Secretary of State naturally stirred Japan. A Tokyo spokesman promptly told the Press that his Government would gladly sign a treaty with the U. S. guaranteeing the neutrality and independence of the Philippines. Said he: "The Philippines would be as great a liability to Japan as they have been to the United States. Japan has no desire to acquire the Philippines."*

*Aboard the Ile de France a few hours prior, Federal agents had seized $126,000 worth of imported narcotics disguised as German toys. *Repeatedly has Premier Inukai declared that Japan "wouldn't have Manchuria as a gift."

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