Noble Puritan

The Hungarian National Assembly (Parliament) tendered a unanimous vote of thanks last week to "a plain old fashioned Yankee lawyer," Mr. Jeremiah Smith of Boston Town and Harvard.

President Szitowzky of the National Assembly declared with emotion: "Mr. Smith, son of a great and glorious nation, accepted the most responsible position in our poverty-stricken and mutilated land, when he consented to become League of Nations Commissioner General [TIME, May 12, 1924] for the Financial Reconstruction of Hungary. . . .

"He has carried out and completed this naturally unpopular mission not only with the objective impartially of an expert, but with noble, puritan unselfishness and as a friend who understood Hungary's uphill reconstruction fight."

Amid virtually continuous cheering, Deputies representing all parties rose to thank Mr. Smith with similar warmth. The occasion marked the termination of League control over Hungarian state finance. Stenographers raced to catch every word of the torrent of laudation. Typesetters, printers, binders, rushed these heartfelt phrases into a vellum-bound volume. It was dedicated and presented to Jeremiah Smith, Esq. After a sumptuous banquet in his honor he quitted Hungary last week.

Mr. Smith has administered the $50,000,000 League loan to Hungary in such a manner as to balance the Hungarian budget and stabilize the Hungarian crown. Though taxes in Hungary are still crushingly heavy, the cost of living has steadily declined during the Smith regime. It was anticipated that he would require 2 1/2 years to balance the Hungarian budget. Six months sufficed him. He spent less than one-fifth of the stabilization loan.