The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-08-27

| Washington, D. c.. Aug. 27.-The
vanguard of the delegates to the
! world disarmament conference to
f, be held in Washington in November
will begin to pour into the city at
least six weeks in advance OF the
opening of this momentous con-
gress and the state department IS
| beginning to find itself somewhat In
| the position of a hostess trying to
give a large party in a small house.
/ The number of visitors will in
! crease steadily until the opening
! day of the conference, November
| IL, and every one coming here will
remain all winter if the official
guesses as to the length of the par
legs prove good ones.
Washington, unlike other great
capitals of the world, is not the
metropolis as well as the political
center of the country. London,
Paris, Berlin, Rome, Tokyo, and
every other capital city Of impor-
lance in the world, is also the larg-
est city of its nation. Paris had no
great difficulty in assimilating the
huge delegations which poured into
| it at the time of the peace confer
ence The case Of Washington is
different.
There is discussion now of
world financial conference in
Washington az the same time that
the disarmament parleys are under
way. The two questions are so
woven together that limitation of
ornaments cannot well be consid-
cred apart from international finan-
ces and trade. AS a matter of fact,
| 1t is doubtful if the disarmament
congress would have fair chance
| of success, or would have been held
unless the worlds great nations
were in debt, their people support
| ing an almost crushing burden of
taxation which the limiting CT army
and navy expenditures will tighten
materially.
These two great meeting will
bring to Washington approximately
/ 10000 people who ordinarily would
not be here. Washington again
will be pushed hard for places to
house all of the people who must
make this city their home for an
indefinite period, as it was during
the war and for many months there
after.
The state department is at work
now surveying the situation from
all angles. The embassies of the
military and naval powers have
been asked to find out from their
governments exactly how many will
be included in their delegations, and
the indications are that the small
est delegation from any Of the more
important nations will number at
least a hundred. Great Britain is
understood to have asked that two
hotels 6e Srovided to take care of
its delegates. Japan is expected to
modify the state department that its
delegates and their experts, assis-
tants. clerks, stenographers, and
the like, will number between 200
and 900. In addition to the repre-
sentatives of England, France,
Italy and Japan, almost every other
country in the world whether a mil
itary or naval factor or not, is ex-
pected to have a delegation of Off
.cial observers at the conference.
Hordes of News Men.
In addition to the huge official
delegations, there will be hundreds
or newspaper correspondents from
all over the world who will cover
the parleys until the sessions end,
and unofficially the state depart
ment will take a hand to see that
these men are comfortably housed.
While the state department. has
nothing to do with American WISH
tors coming to Washington. it is
certain that thousands will visit
the already crowded city each week
throughout the winter.
To cope with the situation, COM
mittees are being organized now in
the state department, each charged
with a specific part of the work OF
taking care of the army of official
visitors. An official information
bureau must be formed so that the,
Thousand and one questions asked
by strangers of other natioualities
can be answered quickly. The Ii |
brary of congress, the greatest in