Two years ago, as General Charles Gates Dawes was sailing for Europe (TIME, Jan. 7, 1924), reporters asked him if he thought the German reparations would ever be paid. "None of your damned business!" he snapped; and in that outspoken spirit he ably chairmaned the international committee whose report was adopted as "The Dawes Plan." Last week Vice President Dawes was awarded half the Nobel Peace Prize for 1925. Forthright, he at once made clear that he considers the prize a tribute to the committee which he chairmaned, though the reputed $16,000 will of course go to him. The rest of the 1925 prize, and the two halves of the 1926 prize were awarded last week respectively to the three Foreign Ministers who were the authors of Locarno: Sir Austen Chamberlain (Britain), Aristide Briand (France), Gustav Stresemann (Germany). All four recipients received their prizes by proxy at Oslo, the Capital of Norway, last week. By the will of Swedish dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel, the Norwegian Storting (Parliament) awards the Nobel Peace Prizes. Last week King Haakon VII and Crown Prince Olaf presided, as the Ministers of the U.S., Britain, France and Germany, received the Nobel diplomas and medals for transmission to the recipients. Explorer Dr. Fridtjof Nansen spoke: "Justice... fairness... good faith... high results achieved... recognition... hope for universal peace...."
The Dawes Plan lays down two working principles: 1) Germany now knows the maximum annual sum* she is expected to repay; 2) Germany has virtually complete commercial autonomy within the framework of the Plan. The Dawes Plan safeguards the Allies against German default by creating a virtual mortgage on German wealth (especially railways) in favor of the Allies. The Agent General of Reparations, at present Mr. Seymour Parker Gilbert, resides in Berlin as a sort of super-trustee. Under him is a comprehensive system of boards to adjust constantly outcropping problems, such as those of transfer.
What did Mr. Dawes do? He went to Europe with two other U.S. citizens: Owen D. Young, potent Manhattan lawyer; and Henry M. Robinson, likewise a lawyer-financier, but from Los Angeles. Mr. Dawes chairmaned what was called "Committee No. 1," which presented the report which became the Plan. Owen D. Young got down and dug at the actual wording of the report, and later became the first Agent General of Reparations. Henry M. Robinson was a member of "Committee No. 2," which decided how much Germany could annually pay, and told "Committee No. 1." This second committee was chairmaned by onetime (1915-1916) Chancellor of the British Exchequer, the Right Honorable Reginald McKenna. Europeans did a major part of the work of both committees. General Dawes was important for his curt, dynamic generalship.