Evening star., 1921-12-01
'VOX POPULI IN TONS OF LETTERS
MAKING ITSELF FELT AT PARLEY
Veteran Officials Say Messages Received
Here Since Opening of Conference Sur
pass Anything Ever Known Before.

-
| that tied 1t. l noticed an original poem
the occasion has inspired the versi-
| fiers-that was hand painted, with the
| flags of the conference nations at the
/ top.
Schemes Sensible and Insane.
Rotary and Kiwanis clubs are
t heard from in large numbers. as are
most of the fraternal orders. Home
/ and school associations. colleges, for
eign-born organizations. oranges. ma
/ tional and local, and societies in be-
| half OF various nationalities, like
the Friends of Korea" are in evil
dence. Many individual suggestions,
sensible and insane, have piled in.
: one writer wants the conference to
adopt a rainbow flag. similar to the
service ribbon of the world war, to be
flown in conjunction with the flags
of all nations, as a peace emblem, and
/ to represent international good Will.
Cablegrams have been received from
universities, churches and comm ercial
associations in the orient. All con-
tinents are represented by wireless
| and cable messages and some of
them have been answered in like
manner, so punctilious are the Amer
, lean officials who, In large number,
are engaged exclusively upon this cor
respondence. There are young wom-
answers to these communications =
every one of which gets an individual
! reply-who have a knowledge of what
the country is thinking that any ma
tional politician might envy.
Congressman, curiously, are not
sharing to any great extent in this
| avalanche of letters. The people not
only know what they want, but also
| where to say it. Most of the letters
| to Congress are duplicates of those
| 70 ha n
| ference delegates. Apparently both
! public and the government have
| learned a great deal about the way
! the public should speak its mind.
Well Versed In Propaganda.
Official Washington long ago cut its
eye teeth in the matter of propaganda.
1t knows the difference between the
| homemade plea or protest and that
| which is factory produced. As one of
\ the White House officials said, THE
| spontaneity of these communications is
\ what makes them different from 9TH
ers. OF course, when any big organl-
cation sets it's machinery at work to
start a drive upon the President we
| may get great number of letters and
, kilograms and resolutions, but they
mean nothing. We know their origin,
! and so discount them. What we nave
heard and are hearing about the con-
| ference, on the contrary. undoubtedly
| represents Wnat the peopie are iecis
| thinking" Naturally, the President
cannot read in person all these mes
sages, but the White House stan
keeps him carefully informed upon
| their number and origin and contents.
Any experienced visitor to the execu-
] tive offices will note the harried look
on the faces Of some of the RESPONSE
| Bile secretaries; these conference COM
! imunications are the explanation. for
p, the White House Is understaffed.
! After the immediate recipient of
letter or resolution has passed on II,
and the answer has been indicated,
the documents are filed, or. in some
cases, baled. I suppose barricade
could be built of these sheets of paper
expressing the public's desire for the
| conference that would be large
| enough to conceal at least all OF the
American delegates. There are lit
orally tens of thousands of them. rep
resenting many millions of people.
One White House secretarq said
."They come in waves. One day there
NAV be four hundred, the next day
there may be four thousand: ls II
any wonder that the administration
lis impressed and awed? There was an
dramatic opening session or the con-
| ference.
| Many Being Classified.
| Some of the delegates are already
| sending their masses of letters 10
| the advisory committees subcomm1t-
tee on information. where they are
being classified, interpreted and di.
gested 1t is the expectation that
| the total mass of communications
bearing upon the conference will be
carefully filed by this committee: Ger
| tainly the result would be an un-
| exampled storehouse of public opin-
| ion.
| The native canniness and patriotism
Of the American Is evident 1le. from rom fne fae
abstracted call for a cooperative
reduction, of armament; they are not
| willing that America alone should
disarm. A small number ask for
total disarmament. Some are asking
for a permanent conference; few
Ger in charge, of the digest pointed
out that a large proportion of the
writer's expressed faith in the Amer
lean representatives, and tender as
surance of support in whatever course
they adopt. There Is strain OF con.
cern for the service of the weak and
needy nations, especially in the reso-
buttons from churches.
To q surprising extent the letters
especially those Of later date, demand
open sessions of the conference. All
the points that have been raised ir
connection with disarmament and
peace have their advocates, for every
sort of organization Imaginable, from
q group Of school children aged eight
TN Downingtown, Pa, to inmates OF
soldiers homes, are heard from.
It is known that the foreign dele.
gates are also hearing impressively
from their people; so professional
diplomacy may give way to the sim.
lpIe, sheer and sincere statement oi
what the ordinary men and women
(Copyright, 1917