The Colorado statesman., 1921-12-03


many of these foreigners who nov
have come to America ito help put
the war correspondents job on the
list OF discarded occupations"
II Is pleasant to note that the ma
Jority OF the writer's who have como
here To cover the conference Is com
posed of real newspaper men, men
trained to their business. There are
here In addition quite "A number or
men and women who have made theif
regulations by writing six best sell
ers, and other kindred things, but who
perhaps are not as competent to Ind
news nor to write 1t as the men who
know the game and have stald with II
through the years.
Philippe Millet of France is here.
He is the correspondent of lie Petit
Parisien, a Journal which reJoices, or
ut any rate, whose owner reJoices,
In IA circulation of something over
million every day In the year barring
only Sundays, which is something OF
circulation for daily paper.
Then we have with us NJ. Gerard.
otherwise known as ''Pertinax."
France and the world pretty generally
know this pertinacious gentleman. He
is writer of rare merit, and, what
counts some, II good fellow.
From British Empire and Orient.
From England has come Mr.. Steed
of the London Times; Sir Arthur VIII
lert, who will be sort of helper
In publicity In behalf of the foreign
office of his government, and Wilmet
Lewis, who for years served great
London newspaper in the Far East.
There are other British newspaper men
here representing the papers of the
home island and of Canada, Australia
and the other lands beyond the seas
which look to England as the mother
country.
japan has sent n round dozen Of
writer's to cover the conference. With
them are several Chinese newspaper
men and perhaps 1t is almost needless
to say that their viewpoint of things
is somewhat different from that of
their japanese brethren, but they get
along together with an Oriental ami
ability which makes for the general
grace of things In comradeshlp.
The arrival is expected shortly OF
Henri Ponsot of Paris who in the early
days of the great war was she director
of what the French called the bureau
de In presse. Monsieur PoB sot will be
hailed joyfully by some twenty or
thirty Washington correspondents, and
some others who are here only tem-
porarily. 1t Is probable that this early
war director of press activities in
France had as thankless a job MS ever
fell upon the shoulders of man to tote
along. His headquarters We're in the
foreign Office of the French government
and there day by day all through 1919
and part of 1916, appeared corre-
spondents from all over the world beg
ging permission to go to the front.
Ponsot, Friend of Correspondents.
In April. 1915, only eight months af-
ter the war had started, | went 10
France as correspondent. Arriving In
Paris, l went to Ponsot's office, made
myself known, presented my creden-
tials, and asked for permission to go
to the front as soon as possible. Mon
sieur Ponsot smiled at me. made me
feel mt home and then told me that
the government was allowing five
newspaper men each month to go TO
the front and that there were seventy
newspaper men all clamoring for the
privilege.
This meant that if things went along
in the regular order of precedence
correspondent might have To stay i'll
Paris pretty near year before he
would get u chance to see Il shell fall.
He would have to fight 1.-The battle
of Paris" with his pen and try 90 salts
fly the home readers with accounts of
war which he was not allowed to wit
ness.
Somehow or other Ponsot, Journal
istic genius of the bureau de Ia presse,
worked things out satisfactorily. The
foreign newspaper men saw the front
fairly quickly and were able to write
about it from visualizing standpoint.
How he did it | don't know, hut he
did 1t. | know that l had two extend
ed trips along the front within six
weeks of the time that | arrived at
Monsieur Ponsot's office and was met
with the intimatlon that might have
to wait year. | think the other
newspaper men had like experiences.
1t may be that the conference in
many of its sessions will not be open
to the public, but with much more than
half thousand newspaper men on the
spot, some of whom know pretty near
Iy every great one who is in their
midst, and who are willing to interpret
the great ones intentions for his
brethren, there is little chance that
the public will not be kept well in
formed as to what's what in the great
conference on the limitation of arma-
ments and Far East problems.
Tender Hearts.