The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-08-12
D. DAvID LAWRENCE.

Might EmbarrasS OtheTs-
Rv DAVID LAWRENCE.
CsneciaI Dispatch to The Retormef')
Copyright 1921.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 12-open cow
ronts openlv arrived at are to be oe-
,,,on5ted of the disarmament conference oE
the liberal element in the uhlte" '7''''e
esnate. .-..L
The opening gun in the fight for pup
1io;+v instead of secrecy has been hreo -
Senator Hiram Johnson OF California
Al+hougb the senate has been debating the
,risdom of Secretary Hughes's poilcF III
withholding from the public lntoflla I Sion
CONCERNING his negotiations with the VeI
man government about the tIeoei
neace the whole discussion Is iieIei!
precursor of a struggle Tor IN open ,. -
fara,,ao an Nov II when the representa-
tivos of Great Britain, France, ltais
Janan and the United States meet ~
discuss Far Eastern questions as "eii "'
disarmament. :: .I;s |
Tbe White House position IS this
While the greatest amount Oh puullo I,,
concerning the conference Will De eileou.
ogod there is doubt whether open sessions
Cid be advisable Reference is made az
tho White House to the fact that ffesI-
don't Wilson found such course OF open
goeSions unavoidable at the Paris con
foronoa Ii was indicated that the rules
about publicity would be made pN tle
conference itself after the nations haa a.
o,bIod Inouirv was made a. to whether
tho limited States would advocate open
soSsions but it is stated that such an
Inference was not justified even thoush
America would advocate that the iacts
about the conference be given the WIDEST
publicity.
Will Exclude Press.
Tn other words. while the conference IL
in session the present trend OF oIllG ,'i
onipion is that the press shall be eXclhdeu
1T as was thp case at Paris. When con
illusions have been reached, announce
mont will be made of them. No oppor-
tunity would be given to hear the arsu-
mpnt pro and con or to understand the
exact position of the various countries
except a. that may be embodled lhloi
InaIly phrased statements.
Of course there will be an open session
for show purposes as was the case AT
Paris when the action taken in private Is
formally announced. but the outlook Is
that all the discussions on the Vltai poiii'>
will be confidential and held In secret
JohnsOn's Demands.
Senator Johnson of California, WIN
characteristic courage. has started the
demand for open diplomacy IN auui
ing the senate he said:
IT congratulate the President OF the
United States and the secretary OF STATE
in calling the disarmament conference.
hope and | pray that it may be success
in every respect; but the first test In IIaI
disarmament conference will be whether
II Is held in the open or whether It Is
held in secrecy. And so. curious as L am
7 EXPRESS now the view that Is mine, thaI
when the disarmament conference meets
in Washington in November we viii see
as an actually the nations OF the earth
meeting in the open, so that the peoples
Of tho earth NAV be constructively pres
emf. at least and so that the pubic opln-
inn of the various countries of the world
will be able to affect that conference anu
direct its will in behalf of all the people,
The foregoing statement Is preliminary
to general effort which undoubtedly viii
he made later in the autumn to persuade
the executive branches of the government
that the United States at least ought tt
advocate open sessions. Inc writer ma
been given the views of a member OF th'
American peace commission at aTlS
They are based upon his own experience
and reads as follows:
Opinion OF Man at Paris.
s"There must be reasonable degree O
publicity. | do not believe the discus
eisons of such a conference should be opeI
to the public Representatives will no
talk freely under such conditions, but TN
public of all the world should get ga.
by day. a brief official statement or III
propositions under discussion, the nna
conclusions of such propositions. In TN
way the public of each nation will know
in a general way the character OF tn
uropoSitions that have been made and WI
have an opportunity through the press an
otherwise to make known their views
1T may easily happen that nations
representative in q conference may OF
TaranOSItlOU and block tn
whole proceedings of the conference b'
cause of this. believing in good faith tha
his views are those of the nation he rel
-resents But it also may easily be thf
when the mass of the people of his natlo
find that his attitude is standing In IL
way of the realization of their hopes thf
may make it known that they are qul
ready to accept the proposition fath'
than have the whole thing fail
More thanA that. any attempt at lro
bound secrecy is bound to fail; and
win fail by reason of the action OF II
governments themselves. Each COVER
ment in order to influence its own peopl
may allow to leak out just as much
the proceedings as it thinks will infuen
its people in the direction in which
wants it to be Influenced In Europei
countries that were pledged to secre
that course was pursued whenever o
or another government thought it DIES
able The only one that did not do
was the American government and as
result the latter generally suffered,
is not a wise thing for man, VINO
guided solely by sense of honor, to ent
into an agreement based upon honor Wi
men whose sense of expediency takes p'
session over their sense of honor.
Might Block Progress.
In the last paragraph lies the key
the whole situation. If the sessions
the conference are open to the press, 1t
contended the diplomats will not Il
frankly and the conference may progr
slowly If they are not open to the pre-
each government representative will Sc
home his own impressions colored by
own political fortunes and there will
no way for the peoples abroad or IN
limited States tn check nm on the ac