The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-08-27
Frederic Haskin's Letter
fsrsrsas c>ur,spoudrrcs 81 IN
Housing for Foreign Guests.

, stitutfon of its kind IN the world
will be utilized by the foreign dele
gates a great deal, and their inyes-
legations must be helped as far as
possible by the American govern
ment in its capacity as official host
Another problem on which work
has started is finding sufficient Of
flee space for the delegations. A
survey of the building situation is
under way, and inquiries have been
started to see what facilities of this
kind each delegation desires. This
problem is not an easy one to solve,
as Washington is not a great bust
ness city, having relatively few Of
flee buildings Moreover, what
space is available here is nearly all
occupied, and it is likely to be as
difficult a task to get office room as
to provide living quarters.
The actual delegates and their
suites, will be met by representa-
tives of the state department at
the seaperts at which they enter
the country and brought TO Wash
ington as guests of the government,
probably by special trains. After
being conducted to the quarters ar
ranged for them by the joint efforts
of their embassies and the state de-
partment, they will for the remain
der of their stay in Washington be
their own hosts as far as paying
expenses is concerned.
Assembly Hall Problem.
Another angle of the situation
which is causing a great deal of
trouble is the obtaining of pro-
per hall in which the public ses-
sions may be held. Washington is
not provided with any large hall
sufficiently modern to handle open
sessions of a conference as digni-
fled and important as the disaTma-
ment discussions The suggestion
that theatre be used was brought
forward, but was rejected promptly
because the delegates might appear
to be performers and might be made
a little ridiculous by such a pro-
ceeding.
Although the principal confer
ences will be open, the everyday,
unofficial citizen will not have
chance of hearing a word of the
discussions on account of this lack
of large modern hall with good
acoustic properties. Several meet
ing places are under consideration
with the chances favoring the selec-
ton of the ball room in the Pan
American union. This room is
about the same size as the Hall Of
Mirrors, where the open sessions
of the Versailles peace conferences
were held. The state department
estimates that when the delegations
are seated, and the newspaper cor
respondents taken care of, there
will remain room for only so out
siders and without doubt these
seats will be pre-empted at each
session by resident members Of the
diplomatic corps.
Unfortunately building opera
tioEs in Washington have not been
going forward speedily for several
years despite, the difficulty in OBJ
tanning quarters here during the
war for the thousands of war work
ers who poured into the city and
had to be housed.
In old apartment houses it is i'm
possible to dislodge the regular
tenants to make room for the for
eign guests and there are only two
new ones Of any size nearing COM
pletion now. Landlords do not care
to turn these over for such pur-
poses if they can avoid it as the
wear and tear on the property is
large item. Then again there is tho
trouble of completely furnishing d
whole apartment house for temper
airy tenants as the disarmament
conference may not last more than
six months at the most.
There has been some suggestion
of having some of the delegates live
in Baltimore but this has been dis
carded because of the worry and
of having to commute
daily to Washington 40 miles away.
So Washington, small as it is in
with other capitals and
ill-equipped to handle such a large
gathering, has got to spread itself
out in some way and assimilate 20
900 people who will stay here until
spring.