Parties & Payments

One evening last week Paul Claudel, France's plump, poetic little Ambassador to the U. S., gave a dinner party at the 16th Street Embassy. Secretary of State Stimson was guest of honor. Next evening Ambassador Claudel was guest of honor at President Hoover's elaborate White House reception to the diplomatic corps. Between these two social events France formally defaulted its $19,261,432 War Debt payment to the U. S. leaving its Ambassador the most embarrassed envoy in all Washington.

To get through Dec. 15 the poetic Frenchman needed all his powers as a diplomat. To all-comers he made himself appear more jovial and hearty than ever. At his candlelit dinner table he succeeded in keeping the talk altogether social--and Statesman Stimson's French and Ambassador Claudel's English are both poor. When his honor guest drank no wine he hardly touched his own glass. Next day, however, found him calling again professionally at the State Department, this time to acquaint its chief with the fact that the Herriot Ministry had fallen and France would not pay (see p. 11).

After dining with his wife & daughter, Ambassador Claudel hurried to the White House where he was one of the first to arrive. Did people think he would be taken aback by his Government's behavior? Jamais de ma vie! Bustling into the State Dining Room, he took his place at the head of the line of ambassadors and ministers--a deanship that is now his by right of senior Washington service. A bugle announced the arrival of President & Mrs. Hoover in the Blue Room. M. Claudel, his white-plumed hat under his arm, stepped out bravely, the line following at his heels. He shook the President's hand warmly, bowed low before the First Lady. There was nothing in the Hoover manner to indicate displeasure, though an apocryphal story got into print as follows:

Ambassador: I hope you will remember Lafayette.

President: Yes, we will. Lafayette came across.

Because everyone expected him to duck out at the earliest moment, Ambassador Claudel made a point of being one of the last to leave the White House reception.

At the same function Sir Ronald Lindsay, Britain's 6-ft-3-in. Ambassador, resplendent in his scarlet & gold coat, felt altogether comfortable and welcome, for only a few hours before his Government had paid its $95,550,000 War debt obligation in gold. With almost boyish glee he had marched into Secretary Mills's office at the Treasury to announce that the Bank of England had earmarked that much metal for the credit of the New York Federal Reserve Bank (see p. 10).

Other Dec. 15 payments: Czechoslovakia, $1,500,000; Finland, $186,235; Italy, $1,245,437; Latvia, $111,852; Lithuania, $92,386.

Defaulting along with France were Belgium ($2,125,000), Hungary ($40,729), Poland ($3,302,980), Estonia ($245,391).

Special Message. The French default produced in Congress a brief flare-up of reprisal talk--$5,000 passport fees, bans on French securities. President Hoover, more calm, waited four days to see if France would change from nonpayment to delayed payment. When she did not he sent a special message to Congress, reviewing the debt situation and outlining a general plan of action he was prepared to initiate, regardless of legislative authority. He would promptly link debts, disarmament and world economics, granting no reductions on the first without compensating advantages to the U. S. on the other two. Because such a policy cannot he completed by March 4, he was again ready to seek the co-operation of President-elect Roosevelt "in the organization of machinery for advancement of consideration of these problems." Forces "which today threaten the very foundations of civilization," he thought, required speedy action and national solidarity. Said he:

"In the situation as it has developed it appears necessary for the executive to proceed. ... It is clear that ordinary diplomatic agencies are not suitable for the conduct of negotiations. . . . We must honor the request for discussion [of debts] by nations who have sought to maintain their obligations to us. ... The discussion of debts is necessarily connected with the solution of the major problems at the World Economic Conference and the Arms Conference. . . . The ideal way therefore would seem to be that some of our representatives should be selected at once who can perform both these functions of preparing for the World Economic Conference and exchange views upon the debt question with certain nations at once. It would be an advantage for some of them to be associated with the Arms Conference."

Sighted: more work for President Hoover's man-about-Europe, Democrat Norman Hezekiah Davis (TIME, Dec. 12).

P: Last week President Hoover canceled his twenty-seventh successive Press conference. The last: Sept. 13.

P: Hopeful that Congress would take its regular adjournment over Christmas and New Year's, the President planned a ten-day fishing spree in Florida waters.

P: President Hoover laid the cornerstone for the new $11,250,000 Department of Labor building on the south side of Pennsylvania Avenue. By remote control he also dedicated the cornerstone for the new Interstate Commerce Commission building, a quarter-mile away. Absent from the latter ceremony were all members of the I. C. C. who claimed they had not been notified in time.

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