Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-11-14
DIPLOMATS DAzEO
BY DARING COUP OF
SECRETARY HUGHES
Mr.. A. ]. 6alfour Of Britain Said
20 Have Almost Lost
His Breath.
AUoHes 4 WORLD FIGURE
~ Charles n. Palmer. Editor Every
Evening.
special Dispatch to Every Evening.

tNSUIuUs
special Dispatch to Every evening.
Washington. Nov. ia.--Diploniat
circles la Washington are still daxed
by the coup which Mr.. Secretary
Hughes executed AT the opening of the
Conference ON Limitation of Arma-
ment Saturday morning. Members OF
the various legations. attaches. and
even some of the delegates To the par
les. who were trained I'm the old school
ot diplomacy, today admit "a tnkly that
our Secretary of State scored a deci-
dcd advantage. both automatically and
morally, when within Ave minutes ar
ter he aros. To make his address of
acceptance OF the Conference Chair
mnnship he launched boldly into
Americas plan for naval disarmament
ON the part of this country. Great
Britain and Japan.
u has been known Tor several days
that the American delegation would
present n proposal along that line: i'm
fact. II was expected. and the other
powers concerned were believed to
think that n placed this country at a
@liph, disadvantage. as the United
ENAi'N NNMNu UANt W nfNN SLY Nnti
could be done with it's armament prob
lens. I'm other words. when the pro-
p0ral came from Mr.. Hughes. Il was
thought that Il would be general
one, which would mention specifically
only what the United States would
do. Also. n was not dreamed that the
proposal would bc made within - min
utCs after the session bad opened.
No tionoril!cs.
u was believed that al least three
days would be devoted 10 honorifhcs.
which is British diplomatic slang
term for those sweet nothings which
,nvoys say to one another In public.
Mr.. Hughes astonished a., by elimina-
ting honorifiics. and then astonishei
everyone w making known not only
what the United States was willing 20
de-. but by suggesting what Great
Britain and Japan should do.
Baifoar, the Expert.
II IN said that Arthur !. Balfour
the brilliant and venerable leader of
the British group. almost had his
breath taken away by the suddenncss
of MIR Hughes a. omulgation of the
United States plan. For 20 years Mr.
ialfour has been attending intcrna-
tional conferences No doubt N,
looked upon this as merely another
effort 10 reach the star of universal
and lasting peace. His quiet. almost
detached attitude while the prcsiaer,
was delivering his address gave that
impression During the first portion
ot MI. Hughes speech he was equal,
detached aNitude while the President
MI, Hughes ceased speaking Of tn,
hasnc Tribunal failure and announce,
that he would read "rhe prop sal
the United States for limitation o
Naval Armamcnts." Mr.. Balfou,
raised his eyebrows slightly. and tho.
Mr. Hughes read the opening para.
graph which began: "In working ON
this proposal the United States ha,
been guided by four general princi
pies. tal the elimination OF an capi,a
ship building programs, either actua
"r projected Mr.. Balfour's detachc,
an deserted him. Being as keer
mentally as ne is, no doubt he realize,
AZ thai moment that Mr.. HUGHES ha,
stolen a friendly march on him. an,
tlht his chance of being the ieade,
oi the Conference had been eclipsed
" ne had plan of his own to offe,
ne must have known that before n,
could ever voice II all the peoples a
The earth would be talking of Mr.
Hurhrs Idea of scrappinr capito
ships now heinz INIT. and of the pow
'iH u"cinring tcn-vcar naval holi
uaN' Soinc Of the English aud. Cana
"i"h correspondents. who are inti
lhhi'lN anquainted with Mr.. Ralfou,
say quite frankly that Mr.. Hucha
has made himself Conference losse,
ana furthermore. that ne has a,s
PLAYED an American initiative thar I,
astounding Go them an.
Mr. Hughes actions In dis,a,.,.
with all honorinics. and !, o,,,,,,,.''
s''V'h' pr"rram Tor the three princi
bowers 10 discuss within thre
QUARTERS OF an hour after the sessio,
hcsan IL as brilliant an examine q
th' triumph of American irrcnuit,
over me practiccs of trained tech
hl'lans az ! have ever known. Nh
ialfour hns had three decades Of ,r
i'rnational diplomatic experience;
member of Britnlns ruling class a.
Mhs trained from childhood In "a
principles. the practices. and the tradi
lions ~ diplomacy. He was the exper.
Mr. Hughes starting In life as a poo
lhd without great antecedents. grad
ua,lN struggling % a post Of great i'm
rnrtancc because .f sheer nativ
ahilifr. nad Only that smatterinr a
diplomatic knowledge which he ha,
acquired since being given the port
folio OF the Sccrctafyshlp of state. n
wae The enthusiastic and orlgina
thinking amateur. n he had al
'emptcd 60 play The diplomatic gam
according TO MI. Halfour's plan, n
would have forever lost his chance q
Conference leadership, Instead OF al
tempting thai methvd-which wou.
h-Yc bs~n the recourse OF a l-Ss abl
-vsn-Mr. Hughes struck out into un
shnri-d fc,da. That he AZ least reach
"a vocl which VII be n siartin
luiut toward the ultimate objective /
acil.ici by all delegates present. !
u Nr. Hughes hour. Shirtslcev
sAHlousscy mas won the first point :
a. iisslsIy manner The United State
H. lseinu not following. And Amer
cen Gccr'lsry of state may yet bc
com, q world firurc OF importance.
Nntra Tor Autcist Who Killed Chm