Evening star., 1922-12-17
BY BEN McKELWAY.

ITHE Central American conference.
having weathered it's first storm
"a mere squall, really, result
| ing from the sudden withdrawal
of the Costa Rican delegation-will settle
down tomorrow and possibly dispose inn
| mediately of it's most vexing problem.
| the union. Should the vote to dis
cuss the union be unanimous. the con-
! ference will scrap it's prearranged
program and concentrate on ques-
| tion which has baffled the Central
American republics for 1. hundred
years. Should there be dissenting
| vote. the conference will proceed to
take up what it was primarily called
to consider-treaties, limitation of
armament and an International court
of justice.
| The Costa Rican delegations de-
cision to withdraw is laid to internal
politics at home and is carefully ex-
J planned as having no effect one way
or another on the Washington con-
| ference. Senior Miguel Obregon, act
| ing minister of foreign affairs IN
| Costa Rica, granted an interview.
which appeared in Costa Rican
| newspaper, as a reflection on the
delegates. intimating they lacked the
! confidence of the government. The
delegates, Senor Don Jose Andras
! Coronado and Senor Octavio Beeche.
Immediately cabled their resigna-
| tions. which were accepted. it seems.
over the protest of President Acosta.
! A new delegation, consisting OF Senor
Gonzales Flores. former president
! of Costa Rica, and Senor Don }. Ia :
b, fael Oreamuno. who served as secre-
! tary to the former delegation. has
/ been appointed and will represent
/ Costa Rica when the conference re-
opens tomorrow.
! L. Most Important QuestIOn.
| The Central American union is now
; the most important question before
! the conference. and it must be dis
posed Of Immediately if the delegates
! expect to accomplish anything within
the immediate future. Should the
! slider it, the prearranged program
| will automatically go by the board. for
there would no longer be any necessity
| for treaties among the republics: the
. question of limitation of armament
| would have been solved and the need
/, for an international court of justice
! would vanish.
| The lineup, as understood among
| the delegations for the limitation
unions consideration extremely
/; doubtful Honduras strongly backed
| the proposal when the conference
| opened, and siding with her is sal
; vador. Nicaragua and Guatemala are
f, lukewarm. at best. and Costa Rica. II
| the sentiments expressed by the dele
/, ga ton which resigned are represen-
! tative. is strongly opposed. The
i Costa Rican delegation. however
| made it plain that its expression on
! appointed delegation Will be able to
/ voice the official sentiment when the
/ question next comes up.
| The attitude of the United States
F., in the conference so far has been To
| avoid IS much as possible. any active.
participation in the actual decisions
i concerning resolutions. merely giving
helpful advice or suggestions shoulo
they be sought. There has been no
indication officially of how the
United States views the question OF
union although there have been IN
formal utterances on the part of high
officials that this country believes the
the theory of union sound
All Really Want Union.
As a matter OF fact. delegate to
the present conference expressed 1t
! very well when he said that all Gen.
tral Americans at heart are union
lists. But repeated failures at draw
ing up a union on paper have forced
; MANY to the conclusion that it is
something that must develop slowly
| rather than spring into being win
| the signatures of selected group oi
renresentatives. 1t must be remem-
bered that Central America is large
area with a great percentage Of its pop.
ulation illiterate. and with means OF
communication few and Tar oe'" :,
Son,athinc much stronger than q
formal agreement is needed to piho
the individual states together III d
| union that will stand. 49,.
| There are two methods Whlch nd
been proposed for forming the ulio,i "
| The first is to bind the states 10
eether in a federation-the states 'o