Evening star., 1932-02-23
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.
cial Disnatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
GENEVA. February 23.-Sixty- odd
nations are supposed to be determining
the future fate of ornaments at Geneva
but when and If things come to q
showdown, eight or nine, or fewer, Will
settle matters. There was early lndl-
cation of that, as the conference swung
into the first week of its stride. Three
days of speechmaking were suf1clent
to emphasize 1t. Sir John Simon spoke
for Great Britain, NJ Tardieu Tor
France, Ambassador Gibson for the
United States, Chancellor Bruening for
Germany, Signor Grandi for italy, Mr..
Matsudaira for Japan, M. Zaleski for
Poland, NJ Hymans for Belgium, and
then, M. Litvinoh for Russia. From
that moment forth interest in confer
ence proceedings, as far as Geneva was
concerned, curled up. One could only
imagine the extent to which 1t collapsed
elsewhere-in the United States, for in
stance. 1t seemed to be universally
realized that with the cards-thouGh
not the trumps-of these major nine
powers on the table, It didn't much mat
ter what China, Costa Rica, Guate-
mala, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark,
Brazil, Siam, the Hedjaz, Portugal.
Turkey, Greece or the rest Of them
might lead The Geneva game is to be
played by the big shots.
* \
Sir John Simon, Britain's chief
spokesman while Premier Ramsay Mac
Donald is detained in London by his
eye trouble, is new at the international
job Until he became foreign secretary
in the National government a couple Of
months ago, he Was active at the bar
the Charles Evans Hughes or John W.
Davis of Britain. His manner remains
that of the lawyer arguing before a
jury-a suave, logical, conciliatory
speaker, graceful of word and gesture,
and careful not to rub any single men,
ber of this Geneva world jury the wrong
way, lest Britannia's cause be needless
ly impaired. Andre Tardieu breathes
more of force and determination than
Simon. He looks like the shrewd head
of a great banking or business corpora
ton rather than like a politician or a
statesman. He affects almost invari-
ably double breasted blue serge suit
like President Hoover. He moves rapid
ly. mentally and bodily. Through his
pince-nez CLEANS a pair OF extraor-
dinarily sharp blue eyes. Frenchmen
sometimes think of him as q bombastic
pompous person inclined to roughShod
methods, especially in debate. Tardieu
tells people that in fact he suffers from
an inferiority complex. He says he's
ton platform when he has to pull him
Hugh Gibson, Uncle Sans conference
veteran and expert, has graying hair
and nearly so years to his credit but
he conveys the impression of eternal
youth. Perhaps that Is because 1t is
seemingly impossible for him to affect
any of the mannerisms of an up-stage
international statesman. Yet as he
faced the Geneva conference, to present
Americas nine-L,jint program looking
to an increase IL the worlds supply Of
plowShares and pruning hooks, Gibson
turned on as much dignity as the stu
alton required, and accomplished his
task in highly effective fashion. Con-
ference gossip is that the chief Of the
American delegation has pet aversion,
and that its name Is Iitvinoff. The
Russian commissar for foreign affairs
on his part Is said to reciprocate in
kind. Their feud harks back to one
of the meetings of the Geneva prepara-
tory commission couple of years ago.
\
Litvinoff always speaks at Geneva in
English, which he knows better than
French. The controller Of Soviet inter-
national relations was once political
exile in London, returning to Russia
soon after the KerenSky revolution.
His wife Is an Englishwoman, the for
mer Miss Ivy Low, kinswoyaan of the
late Sir A. Maurice Low, longtime
Washington correspondent OF the Lon
don Morning Post. Litvinoff gutturals
hi in, 1icy,
with a strong Polish Russian accent.
Facially, he isn't unlike Senator Brook
hart of Iowa, and is almost as stocky
and stalwart. Litvinoff was invited
to broadcast disarmament talk to the
United States, but refused, on the
ground that the non-existence Of diplo-
matte relations would make such a