Evening star., 1933-06-25
BY WILLIAM HARD.

Museum of Practical Geology. Occa-
sion-The International Monetary and
Economic Conference. Characteristic
Meditative Reporter.
Quite nice lounge, or perhaps should
say lobby. But no, this is England.
Lounge
Very nice Of them to provide
lounge just for the correspondents.
It's in the basement. of course But
that's good enough for correspondents.
Plenty of tables. Lots Of chairs And
what do I see? A bar. No doubt Of
it. A little bar.
why, hello. Charles"
Hello, Jimmie. Haven't seen you
since the International Pork Exchange
Conference at Budapest. What do yo,:
know?"
THE French are just all wrong.
They're inconsistent"
"Really?"
Absolutely. They want the re-
sumption Of the old gold standard sys-
tenn. They want free trade between
nations in gold They are all for put
ting the United States and Great Brit
ain back on the gold standard. They
want the free, uninterrupted flow of
gold from country to country That's
one side Of it. But think of the other
side. On the other side they want to
retain all their present impediments to
the free flow of commodities from
country to country. They want to re-
tain their tariff duties. They want to
retain their import quotas. They want
to say just how much of this and how
much Of that can be brought in to
France from each country in the world.
They want free gold system and a
controlled commodity system. You can
see for yourself how impossible it is"
That's right, Jimmie. Thank you
awfully"
Wonderful how many correspondents
there are here. Quite a few from Bonn
bay. They know lots about should
India be federated or should 1t be sep
arate provinces. Wish could see some
Of them. Must be wonderful fellows.
What language do you suppose those
correspondents at that table over there
are talking? They're going out to the
telephone booth room. Think I'll fol-
low them.
What a rooml Five desks of five
different cable and radio companies for
receiving cablegrams and radiograms.
Fffty-five booths for telephone messages
by correspondents to their papers back
home somewhere in Europe. And all
the booths-pretty nearly all-occupied
right now Very busy scene. Makes
me feel tired.
I wonder how many languages they
are speaking in those telephone booths.
Hello, Charles"
Hello, Frank. Haven't seen you
since the International Radio Wave
ALLEGATION Conference in Stockholm.
What do you know"
The Germans are Just all wrong.
They're inconsistent"
"Really?"
Certainly They're all out to get
this International Monetary and Eco
nomic Conference to take up political
questions. Did you hear their chief
delegate just now? He said that DO
litical questions had to be settled be-
fore economic questions could be solved.
In other words. you can't have the
international gold standard as long as
the Poles have the Polish Corridor.
What do you think of that? Perhaps
the Poles won't consent to carry gold
across the Corridor. Absolutely tncon-
sistent for this conference"
L see your point, Frank Thank
you awfully."
Amazing system they've got here for
the distribution Of information. Think
I'll look at the bulletin board.
Yes. There it is. That Bulgarian
Just starting to speak in the main
conference room. There's his name
on the board And there's the red light
that shows he's begun. Thank heaven
1 don't have to listen to him. I see
book-stall
very interesting books. Lots of pub
locations Of the League of Nations.
Fr1ghtful amount Of knowledge. like
the looks Of that report there. Six
pence? Thank you.
Better go back now to the bulletin
board. All! Yes! The speech of the
Bulgarian is already getting posted up.
Shall I read the English sheets of it
or shall I read the French sheets?
Guess III practice on the French.
Excellent speech. Too bad that some
OF the delegates Of the big countries
can't make good speeches. But isn't IL
fortunate that I don't have to bother
to go into the conference room?
Wish they did things this way in
America. Just stay in the press GAL
lery and have it all brought to you.
Marvellous!
Think I ought to go to see Arthur
;5"eerser and the rest Of the League
Of Nations information fellows. But no.
Hello, Charles"
Hello, Francois. Haven't seen YOU
since the International Tin Distribu
ton Conference at Lisbon. What do
you know"
THE Americans are just simply
wholly absurd. On the one hand, they
are perfectly determined to cheaper
their dollar On the other hand, they
are perfectly determined to tell us in
this conference that we ought to re-
duce our tariff barriers. How can we
reduce our tariff barriers II the dollar
is going to get cheaper and cheaper?
1t can't be done. It's ridiculous. The
! United States has gone crazy"
Il get your idea, Francois. Thank
you lot
Feel I've seen enough of this press
gallery in this basement More jour-
nalists and more facilities than / ever
knew existed. Think I'll wander up
toward the higher parts Of this beau
| tiful building.
But it's not so beautiful. I mean.
MT >cthntiH yeorn }.,st NkA