The New York herald., 1921-11-22
By EDWIN @. HILL.

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New York Herald Bureau.
Washington, ID. c., Nov. 2l.
A succession of pictures. stately. abb
sorbing. inspiring. combining to form a
spectacle of human hope Such was the
conference once more in open session.
Great words were spoken, words of fra
ternity and noble aspirations. France.
through BRAND, justifying her fears and
her strength of arm England, Italy. ia
pan, Belgium and America, through Bal
feur, Schanzer, Kato, De Cartier and
Hughes, honoring France and reassuring
her. Yet If every speaker, arising in his
place and precedence, had been as silent
as the folded standard of his country no
message would have been lost
Two thousand men and women, famous
or obscure, winnowings of 10000 that
sought the privilege to fill the three up
slanting galleries of the auditorium OF
Memorial Continental Hall, the site Of
the home of a President, James Madi-
son. The floor Is a hollow square of
people massed in orderly rows about the
u shaped, baise covered table where the
delegates sit. They arrive silently and
| find their chairs as inaudibly as If the
place were q church. No frivolity, little
mur1nur of tongues. AS the delegates
talk In groups-Balfour and Hughes.
Lodge, Underwood and Jusserand, Bri-
and and Root-the people survey this
new theatre of history.
The auditorium is dignified and also
charming The walls are of the tint
Of ivory. restrainedly decorated with
garlands Of fruits and flowers. The
lofty ceiling is of ground glass arranged
Ia ornamented squares. Flags depending
from the cornices represent the States OF
the Union and recall the old republics
Of Texas and California Set into one
gallery facade is an Illuminated clock
of gold and white. bearing the arms of
Maryland. In the galleries at the north
and south hang paintings of George and
Martha Washington. On either side OF
the proscenium arch at the front are
boxes crowded with women In one of
these Mrs. Harding sits. with a view OF
the entire floor.
Eleven o'clock arrives and without
further admonition the delegates end
conversation and take their appointed
chairs. The chamber flares with un-
expected light. which casts curious,
inhuman radiance. The world wants
fresh pictures of the peace makers in
the voracious cameras are sated. BRAND,
bent a little forward, twiddles the
thumbs Of his clasped hands. Balfours
half smile reflects some impenetrable
emotion. The Japanese sit like fixed,
brown statues. Hughes's keen eyes
twinkle with the humor that is SO much
of part of him since his temperance
in public life.
You are struck instantly with COM
parison almost grotesqut yet singularly
true. BRAND, heavy shouldered and
powerful of body. with big and rugged
head, bristling eyebrows and bushy
| downward curving mustache, Is a living
| picture of the sheriffs that kept order in
the days of the old West. Clothe this
stout elderly F'renchman with Stetsor
hat, vest, chaps and q gunbelt and you
would have a figure from our history ol
the winning of the West. For a moment
he is perfectly silent, left hand sunk in
trousers pocket, tips of the fingers oi
his right hand resting lightly upon the
table. He begins gently. quite deliber-
ately. every word issuing clean cut and
clear from a resonant voice. From that
commanding figure, which holds the at
tention of the audience so completely
that you hear people breathing al
around, there radiate power, purpose
devotion. sincerity.
Presently, as he expounds the facts
that make France suspect the purpose
of an unrepentent Germany, he takes
fire. Flame shows in his deepset eyes
His rigid hands cut the air with slash
ing gestures. More than ever he sug-
gests the sheriff OF the vanished West.
If two big guns should materialize In
the swift moving hands of this powerful
| figure in the etaid attire of diplomacy
! they would scarcely be incongruous. A