The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-11-12
NOBODY CLAIMS
 ANY KNOWLEDGE
 OF CONFERENCE
American Delegation Confi- dent While Foreigners Are Sufficiently Polite
 To Agree
By HUGH W. ROBERTS Washington Bureau, The Age-Herald.
 800 Davidson Building

800 Davidson Building.
 Washington, November 11.-(Spe- cial.)-The conference for the limita- tion of armament and a solution of the problems of the orient Is a matter of serious import, of course. But nobody knows anything about 1t. Nobody contends that he does.
 President Harding Is confident. and the American delegation Is confident. that good results will obtain. Dis tinguished foreign groups are suf- ficiently polite to agree. And of course, everybody knows that Ameri- ca distrusts Great Britain and Great Britain, America; that Japan distrusts the United States, and the United States. Japan, that Japan Is sore" because Great Britain appears prone to agree with the United States rather than with Japan regarding the eastern policy; that France distrusts England, and Italy. France.
 But as to the conference itself there Is no more knowledge than that invariably preceding the national convention which is not a pre-ar ranged hippodrome. The conference will sit for the first time Saturday. 0A OAdltf NlldA Acb 1L. mug will make a speech, following a few choice words from the President, in which he will announce Americas policy respecting disarmament. The American delegation will suggest that the sessions be held in the open, knowing. in advance. that they will not be.
 Literary old Guard
 Otherwise. little if anything Is known. Analytical scholars" news paper wizards" are guessing. Will liam J. Bryan has come to town to contribute his thoughts to newspapers willing to pay handsomely. He wears the little round cloth hat which he wore last winter, and which ne folds into his hip pocket every time he passes the hat boy in a res taurant. Arthur Brisbane repeating his perennial boast that he talks to more people than any other man. but saying nothing of his unequivocal statement in Chicago last June that Senator Johnson will be the next President of the United States" Will liam Allen White has come to express himself. while the other favorites. Mary Roberts Rinehart, Harry Leon Wilson, and the ponderous Kentuck- Ian who is the life of the party" are expected. The game that these experts" (who are so amusing to working correspondents) play Is so alluring from the standpoint of dol lars and cents. that even Will Rogers of comic moving picture fame. has acquired a berth.
 They will entertain but their enter tainment will be In the form of com ment on the news that others have developed. However, let it be under stood right now that it is agreed by correspondents that the name of the conference shall be "The Washington Conference" Forget "The Conference for the Limitation sof Armament"
 Briand Rests Brain
 Those who will play the games are not so seriously inclined in the ini- tial stages of the conference as are the professional essayists. Last nigh. correspondents endeavored to find Aristide Briand. It was. impossible. And then, after an hours pumping, one of his secretaries broke the news that the premier of France was not attending an important consultation. On the contrary, the premier, with an escort, prominent in which were French and American secret service men, had betaken himself to the movies. Such diversion, 1t was ex- plained, rests the ponderous brain"
 
 And at the same hour that Briand indulged his fancy for light enter tainment, where was the President of tho United States, the executive Of great nation who, at the in- stance of Senator Borah thow he would forget this factD extended the invitation that brought the worlds greatest politician strategists to Washington? Why he sat beneath ahe smile of Elsie Janis and "her gang" at the National theatre.
 kato Under Fire
 Admiral Kato, in the very begin hing, has realized that he is in Rome. He Is adopting or accepting the methods of the Romans. He has learned, with credit to his precocity, that American newspaper men stand in awe of no man, however impress sive might be the ribbons he bears on his breast It came about when