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Show IJOHNSON BITTERLY ASSAILS " I PROPOSED DEBT FUNDING BILL I ii 1 In ISHINOTON, Jan. 26 The B0 ats in thp first vote on an amendment in the allied debr funding bill late today to-day appro id nn amendment providing; that the refunded bonds could not bear Interest at a rat" 01 leM than I1, pel rjntit It was suggested by Senator Slpjmons, North Carolina, as a substi nit for the original finance committee commit-tee amendment which would have provided pro-vided thai ihe rate should not he les lhan that provided for by existinc law. Announcing his opposition to the ritgiding allied debt lundlng bill In Its present form Senator Johnson of Call-lprnla, Call-lprnla, Republican. Irreconcilable In tin league of nations controversy de iJr.'d that the proposed funding law Wduld so involve the I Ditad Slates In Earopenn affaire that "ou won't nei l q league of nations to draK you Into tVr luobroglio across the water. ' AMENDMENT OFFERED frhe California senator offered an amendment providing that agreement entered Into with debtor nations bj tjlt refunding commission created by th bill bo subject lo the approval of !uicnss Negotiations t bt carried tn under authority of the propoaed n, he declared, would Involve the largest linancial t r.'itis-,, t ii ins b.'twf.-n lotions in the history of the world and tor that reason, congress should move j vylth (he utmost caution. ' The small attendance In the senate dhamber there being only about a dozen senators prcst nt --wa decried the senator who turned his attack oVf the executive sessions of the arnn k 1'iynferenci Hi d clan i t hai "a n I I itrtarmanunt program" would hae I resulted had the sessions been open I trr one week after Secretary Hughes I Bid made his "masterful presentation I rj) all of the world" ol the things I Xracrica would do. He added thut de-I de-I velopments In the conference had jus-I jus-I tafied the demand for open sessions. I BIG THINGS IN OPEN. I All of the big things of recent years I liave been accomplished in the open," I Mr, Johnson added. He reviewed how, I ihen Mr. DaJfour wanted to lay the li iJrTtish positiou before the arms con-I con-I fWSnc.c, he called lot a plenary BOWlon and bow when the French position was to be stated, M Brland asked to be allowed to speak in public Ah' It is because we are ap ! proaching a new era," I he senator went on "Statesmen everywhere are learning that the people hae lound out thai the) have rights and that these rights must be respected ' RevertinK to the debt bill, the I tor declared that through il congress proposed to give awa to a cum mis slon auother of its rights, tights which, he declared, belonged to the people of the nation 'We and our system of checks and balances ap' tol tcrlng," ho continued. "I am satisfied jthat when the proposed commission Is established the people will not know it Is going on and that when they do learn it will be too late for the settlements set-tlements will alreath hae been made." DON'T WANT LEAGUE Referring to the suggest iou that foreign for-eign refunded bonds be sold ln the United States, Mr Johnson demanded j to know whether those who favored such a proposal were willing to link jup Ihe United States with Europe aft r ii had been thoroughly demonstrated demonstrat-ed that the American people did not I want the league of nations." "Bring these bonds over here?" the isenalor queried "Look at France' Russian bonds In the hands of every 'peasant. And what are they worth.' jAnd how have they interested Prance in the Russian wreck? Why, ihoso who favored this bill srv we are not dealing with the purse 1 strings of the nation. I suy we are working nt the very vitals of Ihe country's coun-try's flnanct? I know men who are almost financially ruined because they tried to do all that was demanded of them in the purchase of Liberty bonds. I "We took that money, wrung from our people in the stress of wartimes, i turned It over to our associates in ihe I struggle and now it Is proposed to I give them something in payment ! which would result only in linking us I Inseparably with every foreign coun I try." |