The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-10-08
DOMINIONS TO
HAVE VOICE IN
DISARM MEET
u. S. Is Pleased; 4; Had
Not Slammed the
Door
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
Copyright. 1929


Especial to The Argus.)
Washington, Oct S.-The United
States government is deeply graft
fed over the decision of Great Brit
tain to include representatives of
Canada. New Zealand and Australia
in the British delegation to the ar
mement conference next month.
Back of this manifestation of
pleasure is an interesting inside
story which ILLUSTRATES, first, how
easily Misunderstanding can arise
between nations, and, second, how
trankness on the part of our public
othcials has checkmated possible
false impression at the very start.
Premier Hughes Erred.
Somehow or another Premier
Hughes of Australia has gotten the
idea that the United States didn't
want to see the British dominions
/ represented. He said in his latest
speech that America had slammed
/ the door" against Australian repre-
/ sentation. Sitting 5000 miles from
/ Washington and London, it was not
| unnatural that the Australians
should have misconstructed What
/ was going on. Indeed, many news
papers in Canada have given an i'm
/ preston of disappointment that the
| United States was in some way re-
sponsible for blocking Canadian re-
presentation. There was a feeling
that America might well have is
/ sued a direct invitation to Canada
! n a II q 10 mr. ON
I their shores were washed by thl
Pacific and they are as much inter
ested in settling the problems OF the
! Pacific as are the people of tie
/ United States.
Americas Position Delicate.
But America couldn't issue such
an invitation. To do so would be tt
/ offend the British government a
| London, which has scrupulously in.
| sisted that the foreign affairs of hel
| Nominations be handled through III.
! London government and not direc
/ between Washington and Ottawa o.
| Washington and, Melbourne. Thi
I United States government didn'
feel that it would even be proper {
( say anything informally to the Bri.
| ish government about the desire o
| the American people to see tht
| British dominions represented.
was considered the height of indis
cretion for our government to tel
British how she should choose he
! delegation. The status of the do
minions were, so far as the Ameri
can government was concerned, tha
of sovereign states like New Yori
or Ohio, but in international affair:
the central government alone coulC
! be dealt with.
Hope 20 Clear Air.
Naturally when the British gov
ernment Of its own volition there
fore chooses a delegate each from
! Canada, New Zealand and Australia
/ the Washington government i
plainly pleased and does not hesi
! tate to show it. But such a speecr
as Premier Hughes has made il
I Australia based upon his belief tha'
/ the dominions would have been in.
| Vlted before except for Americas
unwillingness cannot be offset ex,
| cept by statement of the facts
| News dispatches to Australia are
( probably meagre. Also there is nc
, telling what may have been said il
! official cablegTams between London
and Melbourne. For indeed there
was some misconception in BrLahl
about the size Of the variOus dele
| cations. Everybody recognized the
| value of small deIegauons; II
makes conferences work easier and
more rapid But at no time did thj
, United States seek 10 limit the Siz5
of any delegation. From the first i
was made clear that each delegatio.
would vote as a unit any way anC
that it did not make any practica
difference whether a delegation ha'
three or six or ten. So the UniteC
States is sticking to the origina
numher-four- while Great Britaii
( has decided to have six. Out of tht
| six three will be representative o
= the dominions. America is happ,
! over it and our government knows
/ that eventually when the true stoI
! is told in Australia there will be al
abandonment forthwith of any no
! ton that the United States
( slammed the door" In fact. more
than one circumstance points to the
/ tact that the United States had
hopes froIl the start that the British
dominions would be represented al
the forthcoming conference.