The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-05-14
.L[OYDGEORGE IN
 T|GHTEST PLACE EOF
 POLITICAL CAREER
Welchman Faces Attacks of NorthcIiffe- Has Not Shown Wizardry at Genoa
 Conference
By WILLIAM A. BIRD Special Dispatch to The Age Herald Copyright. 1922. by The Age-Heraid)

NSoPJAi6AN AS~~ff 1J @.kc <As
 Paris, May 13.-Between Lloyd Georges efforts to make Genoa an occasion to discredit Lord Northcliffe and Poincaire's zeal to find the op- portunity for torpedoing Barthou, chairman of the French delegation, the Genoa conference has drifted into a whirlpool of absurdities from which 1t can be saved only by far more skiliful maneuvering than Lloyd George exhibited to date.
 The widest absurbity thus far has been Frances insistence on the Rus sians giving a categorical yes or no reply to the document guaranteeing private property, the same on which France at first said yes, then hesi- tated, then finally said no. One would have thought that if tho Russians had finally rejected the document they replied in a manner to leave the way open for further @ discussion-- they would have been in exactly the same position as Is France but France emphas sizes the ridiculousness of her position by insisting. that Russia ap- prove what. she herself rejected.
 Threaten Rupture
 Hardly less absurb Is tho ardor wherewith the official press of Eng land continued to threaten the rup- ture of the entente after Lloyd George specifically had denied utter ing or even thinking such threat. This Is matched by the official French press which asserts that Barthou's s obliginG indorsement [, of Lloyd Georges denial is purely diplomatic and, indeed, criticized Barthou for saving Lloyd Georges face at Wick ham Steed's expense. 1t, Is known here that what Lloyd George really said was that If France actually left the conference it would continue without her. This makes It unirn- portant whether he actually used him. It simply means that England Is determined to reopen the world trade routes with French help, if pos sible, without it If necessary.
 If this Is Lloyd Georges position as his friends declare, then many pre- cious weeks would have been gained by announcing it at the outset. When the conference opened he won world wide applause by saying that Genoa was not divided into victors and van quished, into entente and enemies, into belligerents and neutras, but that all were equals. But before his words had ceased to echo in the Palazzo San Giorgio's marble halls he was back at his old game of fixing things in private conferences.
 Entente Gets Together
 Finally the entente, which theoret- ically did not exist at Genoa. got to- gether and framed peremptory memorandum to It's theoretical equals the Russians. This was a plain re- version to the old supreme council
 tr a sv,nt tou oud of the Russians being embarrassed 1t is the entente that is split and the blame falls upon Lloyd George in stead of the French simply because he did not stick to his equality prin- ciple. ....... s.,s. 55.ss,s .
 The British premier Is in the tight est place in his entire political career. Instead of discrediting Northcliffe he has boosted him into a strong posi- tion while the very critical blasts of the Daily Mail, hitherto frowned upon by Britishers who resent criti- cism of their Own representatives during negotiations with foreign powers. are. now. applauded because of the belief that Lloyd George is wilfully shattering the entente. Un- doubtedly the premier quickly could demolish this argument If he returned to England for a flying trip as many of his friends arc urging. He readily could show that unemployment Is i'm curable. without trade and that trade must be had even if 1t meant aban- doning Franco but 1t is difficult to do this from Genoa as most news papers have relegated the conference to the inside pages
 The coming week doubtless will witness . tremendous effort to save the conference and his own political skin by a series of political maneu- vers. Thus far he has not shown his greatest strength or skill. Has he lost his own wizardry or is he keep ing it in reserve7 Doubtless Poin- caire Is glad he Is not there to. learn at first hand. He feels safer at the QuG .D'Orsay writing letters de- signed to keep the record straight and to provide Alibis in case of rupture.