Evening star., 1921-07-27
BY HERBERT COREY.


conference in Washington. He mas
sought what is technically known as "a
good press on this matter. 1t has been
his desire that nothing be SAID Whlch
might offend any tender national sensi,
bilities. The disarmament idea Is full
of gunpowder and loose matches. any
how. If he can juggle the match heads
about SO they will not suffer any frlc-
tion he proposes to do it. At the same
time he seems desirous OF giving the
the American public fully informed. for
only in that way can be arouse helpful
interest in the great international prob
lens which lie at the base of the dis
armament scheme. Therefore, he has
been careful to present the exact shade
the exact shade down to the most
tender nuance-of meaning.
How One Reporter Erred.
1.-The British government has kept the
American government informed as TO
the progress of negotiations with ia
pan." one reporter wrote one day.
Mr.. Hughes denied this fatty. There
can be no doubt whatever that his de-
nial was literally accurate. What may
have been the fact is that Ambassador
Harvey and others have been sitting
about clubs in London with Lord Cur
Zon, or Mr.. Balfour, or Lloyd George. or
Whoozoo, and getting what is known in
our quaint American dialect as an earf"l
over the Scotch and soda each evening.
1t would obviously be the duty OF
proper ambassador to send that infor-
nation on to his government. That IS
what ambassadors are for, and that is
about all they are for in these degener-
ate days of fast cables. 1t may have
occurred to the English hosts of the
American visitor that he would pass the
word on to Washington. But that was
distinctly not giving of information by
the British government.
hot fIn inn n Ia
obvious that suggestion of that sort
would have dug deep hole for Great
Britain'S statesmen and pushed them
into it. They were engaged in negotlat-
ing a renewal Of treaty of long stand
ing with Japan. Washington was known
to be not precisely delighted at the
prospect of this treaty renewal. Wash
ington has believed, and has made no
bones. of saying, that there are problems
in the Pacific which need attention.
Such as an open door into China, for
example. Great Britain's colonies have
rather sided with Washington.
Came as Club Gossip Only.
If Great Britain had "informed.'
Washington as to what was going
on there might seem to be a certain
flavor of bad faith attached to the
informing. But she didn't. What
ever Mr.. Harvey or. Whoozoo may
have heard in Lopdon came as club
course, wink the other eye. A wink
is never conclusive evidence save in
mixed company.
The reporters wanted to find out
how the preliminaries to the treaty
announcement were conducted. Their
Northcliffe, in his peculiarly quiet
almost inaudible-fashion, suggested
that Lloyd George had tried to steal
few thunders from President Hard
ing. One gathers from Lord North
cliffe's statements and those Of his
journalistic possessions that Mr..
Harding and Mr.. Hughes opened the
informal" negotiations for the dis
armament conference. 1t began to
gather weight. Great Britain and
her colonies wanted it. France
wants it under conditions, Italy
wants it, for Italy above most other
European countries is setting her
prosperity which accom-
panies peace: Then. still assuming
that Northcliffe is right, Lloyd
George saw a chance to put some-
thing over" He announced that on
a certain day he would have an an
in re the east and disarmament.
State Department Active.
One infers that Mr.. Hughes is or
game Of diplomacy: Hardly had Mr.
Lloyd George made this statement
than Mr.. Hughes announced in
that, at the direction of
the President, he was about to ask
the powers, etc, to join. etc: Lloyd
ment Of a Monday and the Hughes
statement went to the press on the
Sunday evening after a day
of activity about the department.
Usually the department is as noisy
as a graveyard in the dark Of the
Sunday referred to may have been
by MIR. Lloyd Georges at
tempt to hairbrand Mr.. Hughes dis
armament critter. Or it may have
been due solely to Mr.. Hughes recog-
milton of that powerful fact first un-
earthed by Theodore Roosevelt, that
more space is procurable on the first
page of Monday morning than on
any other morning of the week. But
the reporters were not informed as
to the manner in which the negotia-
tions antecedent to the treaty had
been conducted.
They were very informal, indeed"
said Mr.. Hughes, or something like
1t. His words are not being quoted,
but he gave the impression that they
were too informal even to be consid-
cred informal. They were hazy, neb-
ers that two gentlemen sitting in a
club-a club which might have been
In London, say, or Washington
talked over the advisability Of q dis
armament conference. Then they
talked with other people and wrote
chatty little notes to others. 1,othing
Nothing even informal Just
4 little non-binding. pleasant. social
hour. But one reflects that shirt
sleeve diplomacy may have seen its
last as well as its best days.
Diplomacy Of Other Times.
That sort of thing-this club gossip
nformality-swings right back to
the methods of the diplomacy of
other times. For the last few years
shirt sleeves have been in vogue in
theory in American diplomacy, even
II they were not always worn in
practice. There IL the priceless story
Of the minister to certain small
state who answered the ring at the