The Washington herald., 1920-03-15
Peace Conference Interpreter
Called on to Translate Yarns
Washington HeraId-Public Ledger
Correspondence.D

(Washington HeraId-PubIic Ledger
Correspondence.D
London, March Paul ,Mantoux
director OF the political section OF
the secretariat Of the league oi
nations, who acted as interpreter tc
the interallied conference and the
supreme war council in Paris, was
the guest at a luncheon given BY
the Foreign Press Association a
the Cafe Royal. Christian Sauer.
vein, London editor OF LIE Matin
president of the association, was In
the chair, and after the kings
h 'alth had been drunk he proposed
the health of Mr.. Mantoux.
1t was, he said, some consolation
to Frenchmen, whose language had
for the first time at the conference
ceased to be the only language OF
diplomacy, to know that IT was q
man of French birth and of French
university distinction who had acted
as interpreter to the greatest world
conference recorded in history.
Mr.. Mantoux, who was very cor.
daily received. said that the inter
preter's was a curious sort of trade
During the proceedings in Paris he
frequently felt that his head served
the purpose of a sieve through
which other mems thoughts and
words were passed. Amazing state
ments. for which he was in no sense
responsible, flowed from his mouth
Only Six Mt Meetings.
Much had been heard of the coun-
Gil of four-he had in a sense acted
as a fifth member. And Sir Maurice
Hankey made a sixth. He conse-
duently had many opportunities OF
listening to the other members and
of knowing quite a lot about them
apart from the subjects they dis
cussed.
Mr.. Keynes had written a clever
book about the council of four, but
Mr.. Keynes had never been present
at one of its meetings. He, with
other experts, was sometimes con.
suited on matters Of detail by one
member or another or their repre-
sentatives in a room upstairs-for
though experts were generally re-
garded as bores they had to be, lis
tened to-but certainly MIR. Keynes
was never present at the meetings
at Mr.. Wilson's apartment down
stairs, where the council really met
and decided the main points.
Private Conferences Informal.
There Mr.. Lloyd George occupied
a large comfortable armchair. NJ
Clemenceau occupied another near
President Wilson; and at the other
end of the table. where he sat, was
Signor Orlando, who showed great
eagerness to know everything that
was going on. Sometimes, when a
place of some unknown locality was
mentioned, such as Jerusalem ol
Constantinople-a large map was
brought in, and then those great
men might be seen crawling on the
floor. He saw 1t once or twice with
great delight.
He had really a hard time. He
had to rushto the foreign office al
o'clock in the morning, dictate
notes OF what he had heard during
five hours of the day before. anC
present something as much like II
as possible in about two hours. He
had to dictate at full speed, like q
man running for dear life. He after.
wards jumped into q motor car, and
went to President Wilson's house
where the sitting began a few mo-
ments afterwards.
Wilson Star story Teller.
Sometimes the council Of four had
their moments of leisure. when doc
uments were required, and the in.
terval was passed in storytelling
President Wilson was good at short
stories, and they were always much
enjoyed. He told one about China
man and the moon. He said there
was a Chinaman who. when taking
water out Of q well and seeing the