Genius Rewarded

News was flashed from Paris: "Seymour Parker Gilbert Jr. is appointed permanent Agent General of Reparations under the Experts' Plan in succession to the temporary Agent General, Owen D. Young." This was the gist of an announcement made by the Reparations Commission, which had for many days been awaiting Mr. Gilbert's acceptance of the appointment before making it public.

Not long after receipt of the news in the U. S., reporters crossed the threshold of Mr. Gilbert's office in lower Manhattan, but he was "too busy to comment." Later, however, he unbent, issued a statement:

"I am deeply sensible of the honor conferred and of the responsibilities which the post involves. I expect to sail for Europe within a month or so.

"I am not, of course, in a position to say anything about the plan or the arrangements for carrying it out. Any inquiries of this kind should be sent to Mr. Owen D. Young, who has generously consented to accept a temporary appointment in order to organize the work of the plan."

Colonel James A. Logan, U. S. observer with the Reparations Commis sion, commented upon the appointment:

"I cannot refrain from expressing gratification that the circumstances are such as to enable Mr. Gilbert to accept the appointment. His services to public finance with the U. S. Treasury Department are known quantities and his reputation as a jurist is excellent.

"Leaving aside the question of technical equipment which peculiarly fits Mr. Gilbert for the important and responsible work which lies ahead of him, I feel that the Reparations Commission and the Governments are to be congratulated upon having secured for the post a man whose known breadth of vision, ability and wide experience will prove an invaluable boon to the great work which means so much to the world."

But what manner of man is Seymour Parker Gilbert? What are his qualifi cations? What is the nature of his job?

Scarcely 31 years have rolled by since Baby Gilbert saw the light of day, and in that period he has earned recognition as a financial genius that is seldom accorded to men twice his age.

As a boy he was studious, used to roam the streets of his native Bloom field, N. J., reading a book. At an early age he attended grade school, migrating later to high school, thence to Rutgers College, where he is yet known as the most brilliant scholar who was ever graduated there. The legal profession then claimed him and Mr. Gilbert went to Harvard Law School, was awarded the degree of LL.B. cum laude.

At the tender age of 23, or thereabout, Mr. Gilbert became a law clerk in a firm of Manhattan lawyers. Here he remained for nearly three years, lost in the midst of Manhattan's hordes. In 1918, he became a member of the War Loan Staff, did valuable work, received due recognition. In June of 1920, when not yet 28 years of age, he was nominated by President Wilson as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. When the Harding Administration succeeded that of Mr. Wilson, he was reappointed to the assistant secretaryship and in June of the same year, his importance to the U. S. Treasury was such that a special post was made for him, namely that of Under Secretary of the Treasury, a post second in importance only to that of Andrew W. Mellon.

Few, if any, men can point to such a distinguished and honorable career in the realm of finance. Many have through accident become financial tsars, but few have reached so high a goal by their own efforts in such a short space of time.

And now this tall, slender man with brown hair and blue-gray eyes is to go to Europe, is to become Agent General of Reparations. His new job will be bigger than any he has yet had. Through his hands will go all the reparations that Germany is to pay. He will be virtually in command of Germany's finances and at the same time the principal link, so far as reparations are concerned, between the Allies and Germany. Upon his shoulders will rest a fair share of the responsibility of operating successfully the Experts' Plan, and, let it be not forgotten, upon the Plan's success reposes the economic equilibrium of a continent. Clearly Mr. Gilbert will be one of the biggest men in Europe and will exercise such power as would make many a Mussolini or a Primo Rivera turn green with envy. Alone from thousands of financial wizards, Mr. Gilbert has 'been selected as the wizard of them all and his selection is unquestionably the result of sane reasoning.

First steps toward operating the Experts' Plan were made when Tem porary Agent General of Reparations Owen D. Young burst into Berlin, hung up his coat and rolled up his sleeves. Said he:

"Whether the plan is as good as its most enthusiastic supporters believe or as bad as its worst enemy says is not nearly so important as whether all the interested countries are in a spirit to make it work. If they are, the plan will succeed; if they are not, the best plan would fail."

He commended Germany for paying promptly an instalment of 20 million gold marks and said that he was sure that the 83 million gold marks due this month would be paid. "I find a greatly improved spirit in Germany since I was here in February," said Mr. Young. He also stated that Germany was practically upon a gold basis. "The moment she gets a new currency, she will be," added Mr. Young.

At another time, Mr. Young defined his position as follows:

"I am loyal. If Germany's financial burden is crushing, that of the other powers is no less so. I have not hid from the Germans my firm intention to make them pay up to the breaking point; on the other hand, I have assured them that I oppose that point being exceeded.

"As far as I am concerned, Germany shall pay all she reasonably can, and the Powers interested in reparations shall get all they can reasonably expect--nothing more nor less."

In the Ruhr, French and Belgians continue to make arrangements for the evacuation of the territory. Railway men and troops were being withdrawn, French newspapers ceased publication; the population was jubilant.