Excerpts of the President's News Conference

As I have said, I have several inquiries here about the pact that has been signed at Locarno. Quite naturally we haven't yet the official report and I don't know whether we have a very accurate report of just what the document contains. If it is what I understand it to be, the security pact between the great nations, I regard it as one of the most important events that have occurred since the adoption of the Dawes Plan. I think the adoption of that plan was the first instance of the interested nations being able to make any agreement for a very long time previous to that, I think running back practically to the signing of the peace treaties. Now this has indicated that they can agree on other very important and material things. This ought to be what it purports to be—a real covenant of security that will relieve France and Italy, Great Britain and Belgium, and also definitely commits Germany to a peace program. I suppose it goes without saying that we understood that that had already been done before, but to have an agreement of this kind in which all those nations were able to join is an accomplishment of value that it is almost unable to estimate. I think it will have a very beneficial result on the financial situation. It ought to relieve those countries of the necessity of maintaining great armaments and I should expect it would have a very helpful effect on the proposal to have a Disarmament Conference in this country. As I say, I can't be certain about that until I have seen the official text, but it all works in that direction. We have had the Dawes Plan. We have had the conference at Paris of the representatives of those governments over there. They were able to agree. We have had the settlement of a good many European debts to this country. We have had the putting into operation of the Reparations Plan. And all of these things are I think a most helpful and promising accomplishment. It indicates step by step a very remarkable progress that is being made, and I can't think of anything that would be of a more hopeful nature and hold out more promise of benefit to the world in general than action of this kind.