Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-07-28
BY HERBERT COREY

wASHINGTON.-If this sort OF
thing keeps up long enough the
gentlemen Of the press, as states
men always call us when they want
to be nice, who work in Washing
ton, will all become masters of the
good old English language. 1t is
getting dangerous nowadays to be
loose in diction. The most valuable
book of reference in the possession
of the Washington correspondent is
q dictionary. The second most val
synonyms on card and defines
shades of meaning.
Secretary of State Hughes is the
reason. He is master OF words
Not only is he eloquent, which he
is when he wishes to be, and fluent,
which he is when he cares to be,
but he is precise by nature, train
ing, and plan. When he has his more
or less daily conferences with the
reporters he selects his words care
fully, though at high speed. There
Is never a suggestion or heslta-
ton or selection. Inc language
comes right out like water from a
Differences of Meaning
"Then you are informed some
unwary reporter begins.
He is corrected. The secretary OF
state has not been informed. To be
Informed conveys the. suggestion
thing either in the ear or on a
piece of paper. He has not been in
formed in that sense. He is aware
of certain facts, and he has toteo
clusion. But he has not been IN.
formed. And the reporter can put
that in his meerschaum and take
a puff. The secretary is not at an
put out, but he does not care 10
have meaning read into his words
that do not properly belong there.
He not only hews to the line, but
he shaves the line to hair. A
statement by Hughes is as clear
and pellucid and utterly unmls51
understandable as anything IN al
the English literature.
This trait has been particularly
noticeable during his morning con-
ferences upon the plan to hold DIS
armament conference IN Washlng-
ton. He has sought what is technl-
this matter. 1t has been his desire
that nothing be said which might
offend any tender national senslblll-
ties. The disarmament idea Is tull
of gunpowder and loose matches, any
how. If he can juggle the matcH
EcaOS ABOUT 81 LllCS IL ~
fer any friction he proposes to dc
it At the same time he seems de-
sirous of giving the press al! me
news there is. He wants the Ameri-
can pubic fully Informed, for only
in that way can he arouse helpful
interest in the great internatlona
problems which lie at the base OF
the disarmament scheme. There'
fore he has been careful to pre-
sent the exact shade-the exact shade
down to the most tender nuance-
Of meaning.
HOW One Reporter Erred
"The British government mas kept
the American government informed
as to the progress of negotiations
with Japan" one reporter wrote one
day.
There can be no doub whatever thai
his denial was literally accurate
What may have been the fact Is
that Ambassador Harvey and others
have been sitting about clubs IN
London with Lord CurZon, or Mr.
Balfour, or Lloyd George, or Whoo'
zoo, and getting what is known IN
our quaint American dialect as ar
earful over the Scotch and soda each
evening. 1t would obviously be the
duty of a proper ambassador to send
that information on to his govern
ment. That is what ambassadors
are for in these degenerate days OF
fast cables. It may have occurred
to the English hosts of the American
visitor that he would pass the wor(
on to Washington. But that was dis