The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1928-01-17
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HAVANA, Cuba, Jan. IT,
The Sixth Pan-American Con-
ference, which is fraught with
enormous possibility for good
or evil, so far as relations with
Latin-America are concerned,
got down to serious business
today. The amenities, the
toasts, the official courtesies
are ended.
Dined and Acclaimed
For two days temperamental
Havana and, in fact, all Latin
America has rendered homage to
the President of the United
States in a manner without prece-
dent or parallel in international
relations. President Coolidge has
been feted and dined and ac-
claimed such as no man ever was
in the queen city of the Carib-
bean country. Latin American
statesmen have We'd with each
other to do him honor.
But that part of the sixth con-
ference of Pan-American States
ended today when President Cool
idge stepped aboard the United
States cruiser Memphis on the re-
turn trip to Washington. From
now on, as one delegate phrased
1t, ''the fightin' begins"
That there win be plenty of con-
flicting opinion in this sixth con
ference is generally anticipated by
the ninety-odd delegates. The
American military occupation OF
Nicaragua, the effort of some of
the Latin-American states to make
political questions a part of the
program, and finally the growing
national consciousness of these same
Latin American states. all are ex-
pected to provide the fuel for the,
fire.
Intervention Issue
Against such a background, the
heads of the FL delegates met to-
day to decide the future of the
congress. OF necessity most of the
work must be done in committees,
and it is in these committees that
the trouble-if any-will eventuate.
some OF the uSI6&dGSS lTOIu SDIIIS
of the countries represented in Ha-
vana want these committee meetings
in the open. Mexico and Hayti and
Salvador are understood to have
prepared various resolutions defin-
ing what constitutes Intervention"
These resolutions would condemn,
by inference, such episodes as the
present activity of the United States
marines in Nicaragua. The spon-
sors of these resolutions want the
fighting and the argument to be in
the open and are talking of Wood
row Wilson's famous phrase. open
covenants openly arrived at"
The American delegation intended
to stand upon the historic ground
that a Pan-American Congress is not
a body for the discussion of political
subjects, and endeavor to keep the |
discussion within the traditional
bounds of noncontroversial subjects,
such as commercial relations, ex-
changes of professors, the better
ment of communications and the
cultural advancement of Latin-Amer-
lean states.
Behind Closed Doors
The American delegates feel that
even these subjects should be dis
cussed behind closed doors, as usual, |
and plenary sessions held only when
a decision has been reached which
can be communicated to waiting
world through the medium of an
open meeting. There is every indi-
cation that the policy favored by
the Washington delegation will win
and that the sixth conference of
American states will follow the
course of it's predecessors.
All South and Central America
is deeply interested in the proceed
ings of the conference. The fact
is attested by the unusual number
of Latin American newspaper cor
respondents present in Havana.