Evening star., 1945-03-11

shoulders, it is for them to decide what
is best for everybody.
Hence, there will be plenty of aca-
demic discussions, and questions which
are fundamentally extraneous from tho
main objective might be brought to the
fore by the representatives of the small
nations. They will be listened to pa
tiently and with the utmost cordiality,
but whether their suggestions affect the
decisions taken last month by President
Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and
Premier Stain remains to be seen.
What these decisions are nobody
knows for certain as yet. They are in
cluded in the surprise box which will
be opened only after the many speeches
OF good will and perpetual peace have
been made by the representatives OF the
various nations, large and small But
there seems to be no question in the
minds of the American organizers of
the conference that unless the Ameri-
can newspapermen are given every con-
ceivable facility to report all the facts
as they really exist, the proposed organ
ization might face a tough road when
it comes to ratification by the Senate.
Secrecy Curbs Enthusiasm.
Because of the secrecy which sur
rounded the Yalta Conference there is
no question that it aroused less enthu-
siasm among the members of Congress
than both the Moscow and Teheran
Conferences The Moscow meeting was
hailed as personal triumph for former
Secretary of State Hull and its negative
nature was not obvious until three
months later
The Teheran parley created less en-
thusiasm because its political contents
were kept more secret than those of
Moscow. The mere fact, however, that
President Roosevelt consented to make
long journey to straighten out certain
difficulties among the Allies and to meet
the Russian leader for the first time
caused the members of Congress to
applaud its results, and it was only after
six weeks, when some OF its main politi-
cal aspects began to be suspected. that
it lost its publicity magic.
After the Yalta meeting, there was q
strong suspicion among many Senators,
including those who indorse an all-out
international cooperation with the rest
Of the world and favor Americas as
Stunning unprecedented international OBJ
legations after the end of the war, that
there was much more behind President
Roosevelts report to the Nation than
the eye was allowed to see
But so far, even the avowed opponents
of the Observation-Disclosures of the United
States are holding back their fire against
the proposed world security organiza-
ton. Together with their more compro-
missing colleagues, they want to see what
Is actually in Pandora's box, when 1t is
opened at San Francisco some time
after April Is. The American reporters
unquestionably will wish to see what
the box contains and are likely to raise
howl should it be opened in secret and
shown only to the members TO the vari-
Gus delegations.
Leaks Are Certain
As at Versailles in 1889, or at the vari-
GUS international conferences which
were held from that time until the out
break of the war, agreements necessar-
lily must have some unpleasant features.
Should the Big Three, who will con-
tinue to run the conference decide to
inform the public only about the most
pleasant sides of the planned agree
ments and prevent the press from see
ing the less pleasant parts of the Yalta
decisions, these latter necessarily will
become exaggerated and the people OF
this country will be led to believe that
We are assuming all responsibilities
without deriving anything but paper
advantages
Nearly twoscore nations will be rep
resented at San Francisco. 1t would be
a great mistake on the part of the
American officials to imagine that under
such circumstances watertight secrecy
could be maintained. There are bound
to be leaks" from disgruntled repre-
sentatives and the American reporters
will receive one-sided picture of the
dif1iculties which certainly must exist
when so many nations are called on to
sign document involving them ALL
Unless the American representatives
who know their press and its representa-
tives decide to be more candid than at
any of the previous international meet
ings, the whole fabric of the new or
ganization, for which President Roose-
welt has travelled $4,000 fatiguing miles
by rail, ship and air, might be severely
damaged by criticism due to incomplete
knowledge of the facts.
Fear Distorted Views.
The representatives of the United
States are fully cognizant of the advan-
tages and the pitfalls of this projected
treaty. They have been reticent in dis
cussing them. because they realized that
if they discussed tentative agreement
candidly the American people might get
a distorted view.
But when the tentative Dumbarton
Oaks draft becomes treaty and means
involvement of the material and human
resources of this country, there can be
no longer any question that the naked
truth must be presented to the public
to decide whether it wants it or not.
Even the most embittered anticollabora-
tionists desire to see warless world.
But if the new security organization
were to turn out to be merely an instru-
ment for the domination of the world
by the big powers, it is doubtful that the
American people and their Senate rep
resentatives would indorse it.
The State Department is aware that
the American nn0rlo Y,pst ho told fhs