Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-22

There's a good deal more than meets
the eye in the tragi-comedy of the
Hoover proposals" to the London Con-
ference on Germany, about which said
proposals" the conference itself claims
to be in bliSsful ignorance. The eX-
PLANTATION is simple. It revolves around
the ancient controversy between open
and secret diplomacy The President
taking still another leaf out of Wood
row wilson's international note book
favors covenants publicly arrived at.
The statesmen and flnanciers now pow
wowing in London (American as well
as European) adhere to the cid system
of bargaining and bargains behind
closed doors. Hence Tuesdays amazing
spectacle of the State Departments dis
closure in Washington of the latest
Hoover plan for saving Germany, with
London simultaneously disclaiming all
knowledge of its existence. The
divergence in method thus glaringly
revealed has existed, in fact, since the
inception of the Hoover program a
month ago. The White House policy,
from the outset, has been to keep the
public abreast of every development as
fast as one occurred. Hence, Acting
Secretary Of State Castles unconven-
tional and regular communings with
the press, both in the shape of COM
muniqueS and background converse
ton. and his radio talk on the heels of
the moratorium accord"
y y
President Hoover himself has joined
in, as we'll as Sanctioning, this wide
open publicity on the German business.
At critical moments during the past
four weeks he has called of, on short
notice, scheduled semi-weekly White
House press conferences. But when
ever the newspaper men were admitted
to his air-cooled sanctum, they gen.
orally got an earful. It wasn't what
they called quote stuff" but it always
revealed the presidential mental proc
eSses on pending and impending devel-
opmentS. There is, Of course, method
in Mr.. Hoover'S madness It has both
international and national purposes, to
say nothing Of purposes personal to
himself. In the first place, the keynote
of Hoover foreign policy is that on
major occasions like the German crisis,
mobilization of world opinion" is the
most powerful weapon at a statesmans
command. World opinion cannot be
modified, the President thinks, unless
it is an informed opinion. So he be-
lieves in telling the world.
X X
NOWs I'LL ILLS Is NcIy UlSCO1lCeTCluR 10
diplomatic gentlemen of the old school,
They have been trained on the theory
that the dark lantern is mightier than
the searchlight. They resent prying
eyes and vigilant ears. They prefer to
confront the koi polloi with accom-
plished facts. They hold it to be
nobody's business how these facts are
brought about until everything is signed,
sealed and delivered. Professional
diplomatists always find that bankers,
financiers and corporation lawyers are
kindred spirits in the realm of invisible
statecraft. These, too, Shun the pitileSs
glare of daylight when big deals like
saving Germany" are afoot. Run down
the list of statesmen, diplomats, finan-
ciers and lawyers who comprise the
London Conference, and you'll under
stand why they view with alarm, irrita-
ton and impotence the Washington
policy which they privately assail as
talking too much"
X X X X
So much having been said to ex-
plain the fundamental gulf between
White House and London conference
conceptions of current events, 1t mustn't
be forgotten that President Hoover has
game of his own to play. 1t is a
legitimate game. He staked something
approximating his political reputa-
tion-some say, even his immediate
political future-by launching tine
moratorium. Overnight it rehabilitated
his lettering 1882 fortunes. He would
be less than human If he did not grit
his teeth and highly resolve to leave
no stone unturned to, sec the thing
through. That-nothing more, Moth