Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-06-21
sK1RM1lsHEs Al AT THE HAGUE IA

1t was natural to expect that the first few days
lot the economic conference, called at The Hague for
the purpose of formulating recommendations in3re-
gard to the settlement of the intricate Russian prob
would be spent in negotiations Of a distinctly
preliminary kind, and that time was needed for set
ting the machinery in motion.
Consequently, those who may have looked for
definite results SO far, have looked in vain. What
ever may be the outcome Of the meeting of the
worlds leading experts n,the field Of governmental
economics, will not be known for some time to
come. 10
But at least two concrete facts have been
brought about during the opening skirmishes o., the
meeting.
Quoting Hugo's. They'll never keep me out Of
the French academy Jules Sauerwein5 who, in
man, and the diplomatic editor Of the Paris Matin.
led the fight against the delegates for the purpose Of
securing newspaper representatives access to the
conference. He and his colleagues were successful
They were, reports say, invited to drink a quiet cup
of tea with the experts, there and then settling the
question of journalistic admission to the conference
hall-in favor of the correspondents.
This victory of the press over the .stubbornness
Of old-fashioned diplomatic methods-sadly out of
tune in a 'business-lke purely economic conference,
by the ways of considerable importance, for the
public Of the world will not now be forced to obtain
all the information, justly demanded, merely
through dry-as-dust official communiques which
give some Of the facts, omit the more, important,
and fail to provide the background and the atmo-
sphere which are essential to an understanding of
what is going on.
The second conflict now happily solved is the
assurance of France that she will take an active part
in the negotiations. That country's attitude had
been outlined some days ago by Premier Poincare
as being distinctly averse to the idea of representa-
ton. as long as the Russian government had not
yielded as much ground as France wanted it to
yield.
France insists that her participation is conting-
ent upon the assurance that politics will not enter
into the discussions-an assurance that has been
given. 1t is, however, somewhat difficult to realize
that a conference of this kind will be able to proceed
very far without at some point touching the polite
al angle, for the problem of Russia is not merely an
economic one, but a politico-economic issue.
The actual test of French willingness to go
ahead in cooperation with the other powers will
take place on June 26 when Russia's representatives
will be asked to join the conference. And at the
present time it is barely possible that France will
withdraw, for her acceptance recorded Monday
specifies that she can retire if the attitude of the
Russians is displeasing to her. .s
So far, there has been no indication that the
Russian government is inclined to recede from the
attitude outlined in its memorandum Of May IL to
the Genoa conference, but there is some prospect
that internal changes now apparently taking place
in Russia may influence her policy to such an ex-
tent that Frenchmen and Russians may meet in full
accord on the fundamental questions.