The Washington herald., 1920-10-24
(By q Special Correspondent of Ths wash.
inSton HerLd.)

in9ton herid.D
Brussels, Oct. Z (by maiD!-After
two weeks stay at the International
Financial Conference at Brussels, It
fell to me to prepare a rather birds
eye view of that Conference, bring
ing out certain general tendencies
and illustrating points both of
strength and of weakness in the
League. i'E T. 'f.. '--E -
The most striking, perhaps, of all
Impressions at the Conference was
the very great progress which II
has made towards the reconciliation
of Europe. As has been stated, this
meeting was the first in six years
in which the Germans, Austrians
and Bulgarians were allowed TO
participate on an equal footing.
They had been promised the fullest
parliamentary rights, including
that both of speaking and of repre-
sentation on committees, and as a
result a feeling of deep disquietude
prevailed over the outcome. An
incident" seemed very probable.
For that reason a heavy ceremonial
program was arranged to cover the
first four days in order to allow the
delegates to become used to seeing
each other without losing their
sense of proportion.
Fears Were Grsundlesa.
Looking back upon it now, all
this seems strangely unnecessary.
Absolutely nothing took place to
justify these fears. The ex-enemy
governments had taken pains TO
send representatives Of the utmost
politeness and courtesy They
seemed to be wholly on their good
behavior, and were more anxious
than anyone else, perhaps, to avoid
an incident. 1 gained the very deep
impression that they were prepar-
ing their way for admission to the
League. and if so they surely made
great progress. Consequently, tho
heavy program arranged was drop
ped after the first day and the real
work of the Conference began. From
that time on the eX-enemy dele
gates mingled freely with the 9TH
ers in both official and social gath
erings. Even the French have been
brought a long way along the road
towards better understanding
with their former enemies. If only
for this alone, I think the Confer
ence would have been worth while.
Beyond this, however, and wheth-
er or not the Conference arrives at
positive recommendations, 1t Will
have gone far towards making the
world understand where lie the
roots of its economic and financial
ills. When it first came together,
it is not too much to say that nearly
all the delegates were oppressed oy
their inability to consider the quess
tion of reparations, which seemed
to them, and indeed was, the foun-
dation stone OF the whole problem:
Consequently. the meeting opened
with practically no clear-cut idea
of what it was to do and many of
its members, especially the French,
were wholly distrustful of its uttl-
ity. Very shortly. however, two
main lines were opened up. First,
each nation read a long report as
to its own economic and financial
AS a picture. II was
nothing short of extraordinary to
see these countries take their place
on the rostrum one after the other
and describe their condition and
their hopes to the other countries
about them. Secondly, the four
vice presidents of the Conference,
who might be said to represent the
international phase of the work.
outlined the four main fields OF eff
fort before the Conference, which
Immediately gave direction to the
meeting and removed much OF its
uncertainty and Indebtedness.
Great Mass of Data.
I think it is a matter of general
agreement among the delegates
that the Conference brought out the
greatest mass of financial and eco
nomic data ever made available. In
deed, we were almost showed under
by a food Of figures and statements.
The Conference, therefore, has al
ready had a tremendous educational
value We had about fifty foreign
journalists present-British. Ameri-
can, French, German, Italian. etc,
and an equal number of Belgians.
The papers have been extraordi-
narily generous in the amount of
space they have carried, so that
really think it is true that Europe
understands it's condition as 1t has
never before understood it. Such
knowledge, of course, is the essen
tial foundation of any reaal cura-
tive action.
Undoubtedly the sharpest point
of criticism of the Conference was
its powerlessness to do aught but
recommend. Many delegates at
first felt their work wholly aca-
demic and platonic and wondered II
it would ever be translated into re-
suits. That same feeling holds
true, of course. of all League gath
erings which have no final, binding
power. A weakness though this
is, it is wholly un-
ayoidable at the present moment,
for no different course of action
would be possible unless the ma
tiOns were willing to resign their
affairs to an admitted superstate.
Nevertheless the tendency among
the delegates which was most inter
esting was the general feeling that,
regardless of the specific outcome Of
this Conference, the work begun
here should be continued in a def-