Evening star., 1921-09-19
W|ll!ASK PUBLICITY
F0RARMS MEETING
Senators Harrison and Bo.
i rah Drafting Resolution
| to Admit Press.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE

The fight to have the press admit
ted to the forthcoming conference on
the limitation Of armaments and the
discussion of far eastern questions
has begun.
Senator Harrison of Mississippi
democrat, and Senator Borah of Idaho
republican. are working together over
the draft of a resolution to be in
troduced in the Senate when Con-
Eress convenes on Wednesday, call
ing upon the American delegation to
use its influence to have the news
paper men admitted to the big con-
ference.
Indications from the White House
heretofore have been that the confer
ence would be secret. and that the
various governments concerned would
give out their own versions Of what
takes place. The resolution, If adopt
ed by the Senate, would pledge the
American delegation to work, not only
Tor the admission of the press, but
for the keeping of a stenographic
record of everything that is said at
any meetings at which the business OF
the conference is discussed.
No Such Record at Paris.
No such record was kept at the
Paris conference when the Big Four
met and there are disputes today
which probably will never be settled
as TO what was said by each of the
representatives Of the governments
involved. When the Council of Ten
was IN session. secretaries were pres
ant but they only took notes and
wrote a condensed summary after
wards of what had been said. In no
sense was IL complete record of the
proceedings. nor was it offered as
such. The entire Yap dispute has
grown out of the faulty record kept
IN the meetings of the Council of
Zen when it was averred President
wilson gave his consent to the Japan
'ese proposal. The minutes of the
meeting fail to present the entire
conversation in which Mr. Wilson in
s1sts that he explicitly dissented.
Not a Partisnn Fight.
Senator Harrison declares that his
night for the admission of the press
is not partisan affair and that Sena-
tor Borah as well as other leading
republicans are just as much inter-
ested in seeing the newspapers admit
ted as are the democrats 1t is realiz-
ed, of course, that the rules of the
conference will be made by all the
powers when assembled, but on the
other hand, the aim of the senators
behlnd the Harrison resolution is to
nave the American delegation at least
champion the cause of open diplomacy
Then if the conference is failure.
II Will not be said that the United
states delegation was to blame for
falling to keep the conference in the
open. so that public opinion could
prevent the representatives present
from taking such arbitrary positions
as blocked agreement.
The whole trouble about publicity
In connection with every inter-
national conference is that when the
press is excluded, the blame for
failure or the responsibility for
obstructive tactics is never disclosed.
The abilbis are still being offered for
various agreements reached at the
Versailles conference. Thus far there
IS every indication that the Washing
ton conference will be managed on
exactly the same lines as the peace
conference. that is, the press will be
excluded and the officials of each
government will tell the press after
order to assist each national interest
The European governments have
always had a hold on their press. and
have been able to inspire the writing
of editorials as well as reports SO as
to influence. public opinion.
U. s. Delegates Mt Disadvantage.
The American delegation at Paris
never participated in such tactics and
was often at a disadvantage for that
reason. because the other delegations
permitted secrets of the conference
to leak through their reporters so
that more prominence was given to
what the newspapers of other coun-
tries were saying than to the Ameri-
can viewpoint. Domestic politics was
also an important factor One of the
premiers insisted that if a certain
thing was made public, he would lose
his political power at home. In the
interest of that individuals political
fortunes. the other nations agreed to
keep mum. There is nothing to pre-
vent the same thing from happening
at Washington in November nor is
there anything to prevent the head
of a delegation from announcing in
Secret that the public opinion of his
country would not permit his agree
ing to certain propositions, which if
exposed to view, might be fully ac-
ccpted by the people of his country
Public opinion" is a much abused
wordein international conferences and
, it usually has a great deal to do with
domestic politics.
Senator Harrison intends that there
shallsbe no undue influence exerted
oVerHthe press during the conference
and he has incorporated a paragraph
in his resolution calling upon the
American delegation to see to it that
censorship of every kind, direct or
Indirect, is tabooed.
H''l Copyright, 1921