Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-04-15
NEWS WRITER'S
ATC0NFERENCE
VERY POPULAR
Are Invited to Dinners by
Queens, Kings and 9th
ers Of High Rank.

Paris, March 17.-(Correspondence
OF the Associated Press. Newspaper
correspondents accredited to the
Peace Conference are more popular
than beautiful millionaire debutantes
In their first season.
Queens, counts, princes, lords,
ladies. ambassadors. ministers, prem
iers. presidents. would-be presidents,
peace delegates and plain citizens
who are unique in being mere mes
sieurs shower the correspondents with
invitations to teas. tiffins. dinners a
occasionally to audiences which have !
no social disguise.
American correspondents r in
special demand. Everybody wants
Americas ear Three social secre-
taries and a squad of motor dispatches
would be required to avoid social
promptly at all the functions to which
he is invited And he would have no
time for anything so prosaic as the
plenary sessions Of the Peac Confer
ence
Everything from Belshazzar to the
Bolsheviki is discussed at these social
functions. Correspondents are whisk-
ed from New Guinea to Nova Zembla
without warning. Ptolemy n POM
pey are resurrected and discussed at
such length that n might suspect
they narrowly missed being selected
as delegates to the Paris conference.
Ancient Greece and Rome no longer
seem ancient. Philip of Macedon
with all the charm of Omar Khayyam.
The Ole Testament is introduced as a
modern bit Of literature designed TO
establish certain territorial claims.
Countries and peoples are discover
ed at these conferences which Amcri-
can school g~eographers apparently
hadn't heard of. and even the geo
graphical specialists employed by the
various missions to the Paris confer
ence are mystified.
It's a rare occasion when a dele
cation descends to a period as modern
as hat of Charlemagne or Pepin the
Great in making claims for the right
of self-determination.
Sanskrit and Arabic are revived
glibly in an effort to establish the
consanguinity of certain peoples.
Ancient philosophers are quoted in
their original tongues. A~nglo-Saxons
are reminded of the perfect civil
five thousand years before the Chris
tan ear. Names which the raw civ
ilization' of western Europe
heard of are rolled off glibly-names
which the Americans trying to make
the world safe for democracy and
that speedily. don't want to
Such claims as that of Belgium for
a readjustment Of her relations with
Holland come as a real relief to dazed
newspaper men and weary delegates.
That controversy only dates back to
1881, t. the scrap Of PAPER which Ger
many probably wouldn't tear up so
ruthlessly if she could live the last
five years over again.
Discussions Of the lea eastern
questions are much the same, whether
they be in the drawing room of the
Prince of Hediaz or h meetings of
the Big Five at the Quai d'Orsay.
They are reminiscent Of weary class
room days with Homer, Herodotus
and Virgil. Efforts to interest busy
men in antiquity seem futile. Dele.
gates doze through the exposition Of
ancient history n correspondents
long for brief statements throwing
light upon the recent history and as
pirations of the various peoples who
have lived in such discord for centur-
les along the shores of the Mediter-
rapean.