Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-07-15
WoRLD-TRoTTINo STATESMEN
PICK UP USEFUL KNOWLEDGE
Lloyd George and Lord curzon' Might
Get a Finishing Education In
the United States

DEACE conferences and discussions that
begin with prayers and end in rioting
are not new in these diverting times. But
there is something odd and peculiarly sig
nifcant in the circumstances of an interna-
tional congress for disarmament which has
among its preliminares the sort Of violent
battle which Lord Northcliffe is waging
against Prime Minister Lloyd George and
Lord Curzon with n view to keeping these
two dominant members of the British Gov
ernment out of the United States and away
from the conference at Washington. Now
we know that the desire of Englshmcn is
really for peace In our times and in the
times to come
The Northclife press few into thunder
ing rage when it learned that the British
Premier and his Foreign Secretary we're
about ready to assign themselves to a new
and imposing American mission. 1t called
Curzon "pompous and unfit" It dismissed
Lloyd George as an impossibility because
'in tho United States he Is viewed and dis
trusted as the man who encompassed Presi-
dent Wilson with his wizardry." North
cliffe is In deadly earnest when he tells the
people Of the Isles that the greatest desire
of mankind VIII surely go unsatisfied If
there Is not truth, frankness, plain dealing
and general straightforwardness at Wash
ington when the statesmen of the world sit
down again to strive for continuing peace.
But America is not afraid of Lloyd
George. 1t knows him. The British Prime
Minister Is unqucstionably the Sentimental
Tommy Of international politics. Is he not
always revealing desire to do great and
good things in dramatic ways, while the
spotlight shines warmly upon him? Isn't
he always ready to regard the mere post
ponement of question as happy solution?
Barrie's Tommy could live bright life
time in a day and forget tomorrow utterly
after he had evaded crisis or a decision
for twenty four hours. SO can Lloyd
George do.
Curzon is a vastly different sort Of person.
He may be pompous. He is not altogether
unfit. He is perhaps the ablest living advo-
cate Of government for and by big business.
He was amused by the Versailles Confer
ence. While Mr.. Wilson talked Of self
determination in Paris, Lord Curzon was
quietly about the business of establishing
British control in Persia.
1t is precisely because Lloyd George and
Curzon are as they are that they should
me with the British disarmament mission
10 the United States For they have great
deal to learn, and travel in foreign lands
always has been good for the minds Of EN-
perors, Kings, Premiers and even Presi-
dents. Other men may be depended upon
to make the peace of the world. Curzon or
Lloyd George alone or together certainly
couldn't be depended upon to make it. But
why should they be denied an opportunity
to acquire knowledge?
The Washington conference as President
Harding appears to contemplate it, will have
two central purposes. 1t will endeavor first
to find practical way for the elimination
of armament competition between nations
that ought to be friendly. And it will de-
liberately try to drag out into the light for
public scrutiny the plans of limited groups
in various countries who for criminally
selfish reasons, consistently obstruct the
work Of those who want to make an end
to wars. 1t will be In many ways an ad-
vertising conference, conference for pub
licity.
Ancient Kings with becoming boards and
nice personalities used to travel abroad to
make new friends. A Premier or Presi-
dent with charming manners and the gift
of expression can do much to make his
people understood to other peoples and to
win for himself sort of friendship which
his own land ultimately must share.
If the war proved anything conclusively
It proved that the nations of the earth need
above all things better acquaintance with
one another and interpreters of ability and
intense earncstness Sooner or later we
shall realize that all statesmen ought to
travel the world at intervals and get down
from their pedestals and mingle with the
crowds and seize opportunities to talk di-
rectly and simply with the peoples of for
eign countries.
A look at the United States and Canada
would be good for Lloyd George. 1t might
even bring enlightenment to Lord Curzon