The Washington herald., 1919-01-18
PEACE COUNCIL ALLOWS
"0PEN-SHUT" PUBLICITY;
HALTS PUBLIC OPINION


with General Issues at
Stake.
Paris. Jan. Representatives of
the press shall be admitted to the
meetings of the full Peace Confer
ence, but upon necessary occasions :.
the deliberations of the conference !
may be held I'm camera" |
This ruling was adopted by the
conference of the powers at the Quai
dOrsay today and is officially an
nOunced in toniGht's communique.
The ruling means an important VIC
tory for publicity and open diplo-
macy. but the surrender of secrecy
is not unconditional Important res
eTyations are attached to il. the prin-
ctpal one being contained in the rul-
ing itself. which means that when
ever the peace confeFees deem II
necessary they can exclude the press.
A The reasons for this are set forth
IN a long statement contained in the
Official communique
These reasons constitute, in effect,
an argument that to grant all that
the newspaper men are demanding
namely free and open sessions and
free and open communication between
the plenipotentiaries and the CORES
pondents-would mean premature pub
hcity, which might result in con-
troversies between whole nations, and
therefore hinder rather than help the
conclusion of a just-and speedy peace.
~ ~open and shut, Plan.
eion as communicated to
Pnight, on the face of it.
vides the Peace Confer
wo sections. full confer
which the press will be
and ''in camera session"
fch the press will be barred. J
Ttant statement in the COM
is:
" nation can be committed ex-
nt by the free vote of its own
delegates. The deliberations cannot
proceed by the method of a major
ity vote"
The text of the official COM
munique follows:
The President of the United |
States of America and.-the Prime
Ministers and Foreign Ministers Of
the allied great powers, assisted by
the Japanese ambassadors to Paris |
and London. met at the Quai d'Orsay !
today. in the morning from 10:S0 a.
m. to 1880 p. m. and in the after |
noon from 3 p. m to $50 p. m
Three Delegates Each.
The meeting decided to tts~ Bel
gium and Serbia three delegates each |
at the conference. They likewise de- !
cided that the King of Hedjaz De rep !
resented by two delegates. The ques- !
ton OF the number of delegates for |
the various powers is thus finally es- /
tablished.
The program for the opening con-
ference. which will take place at the
foreign Office tomorrow, Saturday, at
D. m, was afterwards arranged.
THE meeting finally examined the
question of publicity to be given to
the discussions of the conference and
unanimously approved the following
text to be handed to the press in the
name of the five great powers:
The representatives of the allied
and associated powers have given
earnest consideration to the question
Of publicity for the proceedings of the
Peace Conference. They are anxious
that the public. through the press,
should have the fullest information
compatible with safeguarding the su-
preme interest of all, which is that
just and honorable settlement should
he arrived at with the minimum of
delay.
LTkened to Cabinet.
1T is however. obvious that pub
licity with regard to the prelimin-
ary conversations now proceeding
must be subject to the limitations
necessarily imposed by the official
and delicate nature of their object.
The proceedings of a Peace Confer
ence are far more analogous to
those Of a cabinet than tOIthose of
a legislature.
Nobody has ever suggested that
Cabinet meetings should be held in
public. and if they were so bold
the work of government would be-
come impossible. One reason why
cabinets are held in private is in
order that differences MAJ be re-
r1nciIed and agreement reached be-
Jre the stage Of publicity is begun.
The essence is to be conducted in
public. but in order that its con-
eIusions should be subject to the
consideration of a popular chamber
aud to free and open discussion, the
allied and associated powers are
holding conversations in order to
soFve questions which affect the
vital interests of many nations and
upon which they may at present
hold many gent Nlt"S-
These deliberations cannot pro-
ceed by the method of a majority
vote. No nation can be committed
except by the free vote of its own
delegates. The conclusions arrived
at at these consultations therefore.
can only be formed by the difficult
process Of reaching an agreement
among all. This vital process would
only be hindered if the discussion of
every disputed question were to
open by a public declaration by each
Allegation of it's own national point
of view.
Fear for Controversy.
Such a declaration would in many
cases be followed by premature pub
lie controversy. This would be seri-
Gus enough II il were confined to con-
troversy between parties within each
state. 1t might be extremely danger
Gus IT, as would often be inevitable,
IL resulted in controversy between ma
tons. Moreover such public declara-
uouId randar this cive-a nd ia ke