Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1922-01-03

President and Mrs. Harding re-
viyed time-honored custom yester-
day by holding New Years Day
reception at the White House. Inc
most elaborate arrangements were
completed for the event which was
the first one in eight years, the Ola
custom having been abandoned by
Woodrow Wilson while he occupied
the Executive Mansion.
The reception, which was open to
the general public, began at II
O'Clock in the morning and continued
until in the afternoon, with an hour
for luncheon beginning at O'Clock.
The first period was devoted to men,
bers of the Diplomatic Corps, mem.
hers of the Cabinet, members OF
Congress and others identified with
governmental affairs. The general
public was received from to
o'clock.
Mr.. Albert kammerer who is IN
charge of the Far Eastern Section OF
the French Foreign Office denounces
as forgeries the sensational docu-
mems brought to Washington by the
Far Eastern Republic in which
France is shown to have made an
agreement with Japan for mutual
support at the Arms Conference. The
most startling feature of this al
legged correspondence between the
French and Japanese governments is
promise by France TO uphold Japa-
nese claims in Siberia.
| in talking about the alleged docu-
ments, NJ. kammerer says:
."The fact that the delegates from
the Far Eastern Republic have come
here with such documents shows how
little attention need be paid to the
delegates in question. The documents
are forgeries and stupid. France has
no agreement of any kind about ST.
IBERIA, not even with Japan"
In spite of the apparent deadlock
which has suspended the Shantung
negotiations for more than ten days,
there is still hope that the question
will be settled before the adjourn
ment of the Conference on the Limi-
tation Of Armaments and Pacific and
Far Eastern questions. That hope
lies in the new political situation IN
China more than anything else. Pre-
mier Liang, the head of the Cabinet
in China is an experienced financler
and an able statesman. Various CO.
gent reasons support the belief that
Premier Liang vii favor the settle
ment of the Shantung railway ques-
ton on reasonable terms Of compro
mise, such as twenty year loan from
Japan and the appointment of Japa-
nese as chief engineer, traffic mana
ger and auditor. Such is the Japa-
nese view of the situation, but Chi
nese representatives in Washington
think otherwise. /
According to official reports Of the
Agricultural and Commerce Depart
ments farmers Of the United States
sold abroad nearly S2,000,000, 900
worth of their products in the year
1921.
Despite worldwide economic de-
preston, it was a good year for the
nations agricultural population so
far as export business goes. Farm
products constituted more than one
! third Of the entire total Of exports OF
all commodities. Farmers. therefore,
received the largest slice of the
worlds biggest export business.
| Prosperity for the nations agricul-
tural population means prosperity for
the entire country, according to gov
ernment officials 1t was OH this
theory that President Harding in
structed Secretary of Agriculture
Wallace to call conference of agri-
cultural interests to devise means of
affording relief.