The Washington herald., 1922-01-15

hdu an open held Tor acquiring
frst-hApd information from the
diplomats. These visitors have
been amazingly generous to society.
lending themselves fully to its
lunches. teas, dinners, dances, re-
eeptlons- They have gone, even when
they .groaned. Viviani. asked one
day what he thought about the
country. said souriy that the wo-
mens-of Washington had not given
him a chance to see the country,
even the town He had seen moth
ing but food, flowers and people"
wearied By Social Duties.
And I heard another diplomat
boastirg joyfully that he was going
to have the greatest pleasure that
had come to him since he had ar
/. rived in Washington. an evening
at home. sitting quietly with a book
before his own fire. At one time
the conference body was SO fraz-
zled from its social duties that
Secretary Hughes threatened to de-
clare a social holiday.
II this social activity was fruit
less as well as hard you would
scarcely have your diplomats yield
ing themselves so long and so fully
to IL. AS a matter OF fact these
Washington dinner tables frequent
ly yield clarifying and inspiring
discussions II 10 true, of course,
that'fn the groups you Will find wo-
men, narrow in their point Of view
and almost unbelievably prejudiced
in favor OF this or that nation.
You will md others to whom the
entire round Is hardly more than q
chance to say: II sat next to Bal
four. " ''Sarraut left his card to-
day" or an exercise in Identifying
the1nportant.
What happened today7" I heard
a woman of official position asked
after the third plenary conference,
thS pte at which BRAND spoke. 81
havsSt the least idea" she replied.
II was SO busy seeing who was
who"
some Exercise Influence.
Butthe prejudiced and the stupid
are a minority and there are not a
few women in diplomatic and social
kcircles here, of large international
experience. thoroughly informed.
restrained in expression and wise in
Judgment, and these women exer-
cnse q benehcent II quiet influence
on the councils.
However. IL is not this Indirect
relation to diplomacy that the
serious woman of today wants. She
asks TO be in the thing as a recog-
nized co-worker. and that has been
granted her here in a novel way
Women have not been introduced
into the established diplomatic ma
chine, for a place there requires
training and experience which no
woman among US has as yet had.
but she has been admitted into the
personnel of an entirely new ad-
tunct, that bit of machinery known
as the advisory board of the coun-
cit for the limitation of ornaments.
Public Wanted share.
This board was evidently born
from, the pressure brought to bear
on the administration from the time
that the conference was announced.
The rpublic wanted to be taken in,
IL wanted open sessions, open COM
mittee meetings. 1t wanted to hear
everything that was said and to
have a share in everything that
was done. This demand began al
most at once to crystalize itself in
.aofhciaI ways, committees form
ling themselves to settle in wash
ington, to watch" the conference,
to advise the conference. A strong
elemeat in this public pressure
came from women. They were in
sistent on representation, even ask
ing that women representatives be
allowed 20 sit in all the committees
so as to know first-hand just how
business was being conducted.
The advisory board was the ad-
miniStrations response to these
varying demands from the outside.
The explanation of the function OF
the board was hazy, but you got
the idea that IL was somehow TO
stand between the delegates and
the public, to sift public opinion, TO
be as someone said, "a reaction
agency also, as I heard one tired
member say one day. to be the
"goae1-
" -Four Women Members.
OF the twenty-one members
chosen for the advisory board, four
were women. Although politics I'M
Edoubtedly had a part in the choice
that Is, only women who were
friendly to the party in power and
who, had been useful to IL being
>,ligible-fitness was not sacrificed
y this consideration. The four
women chosen were all f1tted BY
In ative- ability. by education, by ex-
perfence and by their familiarity
Yith<pVblic matters to serve on
|s1chF body.
II The procedure of the advisory
board was vague at the start. OBJ
|viously IL was up to the board to
.see what IL could make of itself, to
Iprove whether such an auxiliary
|engine could be made useful to an
conference. The men,
|berSbk hold of the work ener-
Iget6a}iy. dividing themselves into
|commlttees along the line of the
|agenda. In addition, they formd a
general information committee, the
kobject OF which was 70 secure
prompt and full reports from all I
parts of the country of what people |
hwere thinking and saying about
|the conference and its doings. This |
committee was soon able to send |
put every morning to the American
Delegation a digest of opinion, not
lbnly in the United States, but IN |
Foreign lands
Deals with Suggestions.
One important task that this
|committee took on Its shoulders
Asi reading and estimating the |
salue of the enormous mass of cor
fespondence, petitions. suggestions,
That always come to a conference,
bational or international. The whole
tountyy seems to feel that IL il it's
Huty to contribute directly to these
whatever Il has In