Evening Star Newspaper, September 4, 1921, Page 21

"EDITORIAL PAGE NATIONAL PROBLEMS SPECIAL ARTICLES oy It [ EDITORIAL SECTION The Sunduy Star, -_Plr! 2—8 Pages WASHINGTON, D. C., SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 4, 1921 JOBS FOR IDLE MEN HARD NUT TO CRACK President Harding and His Advisers Tackle One of the Most Serious of All Domestic Problems: r BY N. 0. MESSENGER. RESIDENT HARDING, al- though he has Congress off his hands instead of on them, finds them just ag i full, notwithstanding. There are ' big projects ahead for the execu- . tive and the work of Congress is ! but one item on the list. It is not ! to be.forgotten that even though ! the voice of Congress is silent for : the pending thirty-day recess; it is still functioning in an important way through the Senate finance committee’s labors on the tariff and the new tax bill. This is a * case of Congress being seen and not heard. President Harding is deeply in- terested in the forthcoming unem- ployment conference to be held in this capital. This, according ¢o the preliminary announcement by Sec- retary Herbert Hoover, is to be a triple-headed affair, in which the government, labor and capital will ‘e represented. Its object as stated will be to prevent suffering during the coming winter among the un- employed, but more important still, to seek ‘to get at the root of the unemployment problem. * ¥ * % President Harding some time ago foresaw the coming unemployment situation and discussed with his official family the desirability of the government taking cogndzance of it within the limitations of fed- eral assistance. It can be said with justification that since Presi- dent Harding came into office one of the outstanding features of his administration has been foresight- edness, visualizing situations like- ly to arise and taking steps to forestall them. He has shown, also, sympathy with and understanding of the problems of all classes, and of the people generally, with an intense desire to render whatever assistance législation and adminis- tration might make possible. The chief executive was among the first to sense the needs of the farmers and at once put himself at the head of the movement for their relief, which had already taken form in Congress. So also was he early to appreciate the demands for the relief of the taxpayers and the insistence of the business in- terests of the country for reform of the cumBirsome system of taxes built up umder the stress of war necessity. Likewise did he foresee the opportunity to render service of a practical kind and of invalu- able benefit to the world as well as to his own country in an agree- ment for the curtailment of arma- ment, and brought about the dis- armament eonference. * % %k % President Harding considers the unemployment crisis as a domestic issue of exceeding urgency and fraught with all kinds of dangers if not met and dealt with before it gets out of hand in magnitude. It is not the thought of the adminis- tration to take an alarmist atti- . tude, but the fact of the existence of trouble cannot be evaded and it is thought that wise and judi- clous discussions, without any tend- ency to panickyness, will lead to constructive action. The latest estimates derived from governmental and non-official sources placed the total of unem- ployed at about 5,700,000, a serious condition, it must be recognized. ‘With the present trend of affairs, this total would more likely be in- creased rather than reduced and the winter months might opdina- rily be expected to add to it. * k%% To the thoughtful leaders in the administration and Congress it is inconceivable that a period of dis- tress should descend upon this na- tion spelling anything resembling actual suffering for a material sec- tion of the population. They say that with good crops in sight, with savings banks bulging” with de- posits, with neither famine nor pestilence raging or impending, some way ought to be found to correct the cause of the present slacking down of business. ‘What is that cause? Is it mainly to be found in purely domestic con- ditions, susceptible of treatment and enrreeuo\! Is it in part at- tributable to "world conditions, some of them beyond control here? * The administration leaders feel there has been mo lack of effort on the part of this government to render &id to the world at large and the work is still going on through credit expansion for stim- ulation of foreign trade. If & contributing factor of com- pelling importance exists in mis- ‘understandings between employers and employes, the administration leaders feel that they must be in- quired into and.corrected. * % * % The men in the administration ‘who have this subject in hand and ‘who have been in close touch with employers and workers are of opinion that there is fertile ground for the sowing of seed to ripen into better understanding between capital and labor. It is held that there are no <clashes between the two classes of such a vindictive character as to preveat calm con- sideration of the questions in- volved nor forbid hope of their settlement. In the coming conference to \. ‘which representatives of the gov- ernment will be party, the govern- ment will seek to hold a middle course, it is sald, offering friendly ald to each side and refraining from “taking sides.” e . Opinlon mey differ as to the Practical good to be accomplished, and there are pessimists who re- fuse to harbor the thought of any- thing of practical value being pos- sible of accomplishment. But this is not the feeling of President Harding, by any means, nor of the other big men in the administra- tion and in Congress who are in sympathy with the movement. It is known that the outlook for the winter is serious, unless con- ditions are bettered. It is believed that employers and workers both realize the extent and seriousness of the danger and that they will come to the conference in a spirit of trying to do something to pre- vent a great national disaster. It is felt that the presentation of facts and figures as to conditions will 80 let in the light of publicity that the mass of the people will know the facts and be in position to lend moral support to efforts for the remedying of evils. * % x % Only two and one-half weeks more and Congress will again be under way, with a full speed ahead signal sounding in both houses. The Senate committee on finance confidently expects to have some kind of a new tax bill ready for consideration when the Senate meets September_2], and to follow it promptly with a tariff bill. With the national legislative body in session, the industrial and unemployment conference and the great limitation of armaments meeting approaching, the national capital will again focus the atten- tion of the nation. Officlals here realize that the next few months are to form a mo- mentous constructive period in the nation’s affairs and that the party in ‘power i3 to be put to a crucial test before the eyes of the people. * X X %X Many of the members of the lower house ate “back home" dur- ing the recess, “fixing their fences” and getting in touch with their constituents. They may be ex- pected to bring back with them first-hand reports on the whole state of the Union which will be valuable - in a political way and serve as a guide to legislation. A number of the legislators were known to be concerned with ascer- taining how the people felt about the side-tracking of the bonus bill, and the effect politically upon their fortunes. It is not believed, however, that any serious effort will be made to renew the move- ment for a bonus bill at this ses- sion. (Copyright, 1921, by The Washington Star.) PLANETS SHOWING OFF. Jupiter and Saturn Visible in Evening Low in the West. The position of the planets in the heavens at this time is of more than ordinary interest both to the layman and astronomer. Jupiter and Saturn age visible low in the west early in the evening. Uranus, invisible to the naked eye, is in the constellation Aquarius. The earth has passed through the plane of -Saturn’s rings for the third and last time during the passage of the plane of the rings through the earth’s orbit. The earth passed through the plane of the rings November 5, 1920, and February 22, 1921. From now on the rings will begin to open. They will open wider and wider for seven years and then begin closing. It will be fifteen years, or half of the period of Saturn’s revolution about the sun, before the rings will be seen on edge again. When the planet is seen again the rings will be opened enough to show their real character. MAJ. TROY ASSIGNED. Maj. Thaddeus S. Troy, Medical Corps, at Camp Jackson, S. C., and Capt. Alexander ‘Berkowitz, Medical Corps at Camp Meade, have been as- signed to duty at Walter Reed Gen- eral Hospital, this city. | Noted Italian Statesman Arrives in Washington SIGNOR TOMMASO TITTONI, l 1 ’ BY SHELDON S. CLINE. N connection with recently published arti- cles bearing on the problem as to the form in which the United States could afford to Collect the debt due us from Europe, there have come to The Star from several prominent sources suggestions to this effect: Why worry about the form in which this Indebtedness eould be collected when there is only the remotest of chances that any consid- erable part of it can be collected at all? And it is added: Most of\the countries of Europe are bankrupt, so we might as well for- give them what they owe us and De done with worrying about it. * ¥ X * This raises the very pertinent question: ‘When, if ever, is a nation bankrupt? Under ordinary commercial standards, a man is bank- rupt when his liabilities exceed his assets. If that standard'is to be applied to nations, it hardly is true that most of the countries which owe us money are bankrupt; and it certainly is not true that the countries which owe us the most money are insolvent. Here are the amounts of indebtedness due the government of the United States, the figures given Including principal of loans and interest due and unpald: ’ Armenia $12,969.786.16 Austria . 2 7,380.19 Belgium . 409,287,557.99 Esthonia 15,388,813.97 Finland . 8,880,265.96 France . 5 3,634,911,801.83 Great Britain. 4,573,621,642.37 Greece . 15,000,000.00 Hungary 1.736,410.68 taly . 1,809,112,931.70 Latvia 5,519,249.66 Liberia 27,568.85 Lithuania . s.. _ 5,479,790.83 Poland 145,499,103.94 Rumanta 39,606,029.03 Russia 218,721,857.55 55,931,958.00 $11,084,802,341.67 * k1% ¥ Now let us examine into the financial con- dition of our principal debtors: The total national debt of the British empire is placed at slightly under $46,000,000,000, and thé national wealth is estimated at $230,000,000,000; France's national debt is $51,000,000,000 and the national wealth $100,000,000,000; Italy’s national debt is under $20,000,000,000 and the national wealth about $40,000,000,000. S, it will be seen, none of our three princi- pal debtors is bankrupt, measured by commer- cial standards. Russia has a national debt of abaut $25,000,000,000 and her national wealth is estimated at $60,000,000,000—apparently solvent, yet the chances of collecting any money from Russia certainly do not appear bright today. The extent of the wealth of some of the Da- tions created by the treaty of Versailles is very uncertain, and theix ability to pay is large- ly guesswork, yet it is worthy of note that Poland is the ons country that made inter- est, payments on her debt to America with money derived otherwise than by loans from the United States Treasury. i Germany, measured by the ‘commercial standard) is absolutely bankrupt. Her national debt is placed at $62,500,000,000 and her na- tional wealth is estimated at only $20,000,000,000. With the exception of Austria and Hungary, which owe the United States minor sums ad- vanced for relief work, none of our Europeaa: creditors shows as bad a balance sheet as does Germany. Yet does any one really doubt that, given time and a fair opportunity, Germany will pay her way out? * %k %k X As a matter of fact, it is almost inconcef able that debt should bankrupt a nation unless it should be accompanied by bankruptcy of morals or depletion of man-power beyond the ~ - . huhchbacked but brilliant marshal, point of recuperation. The history of modern civilization shows that almost invariably a na- tional debt has acted as a stimulus to the crea- tion of new wealth, and, despite the oppressive- ness of temporary burdens, has resuited in an increase in national prosperity and a better- ment in the general standargd of living. And the rule seems to hold whether the debt has been owed externally or internally. It is recognized as a matter of course that a public debt owed internally—that s, where the people of a nation are the creditors of their own gov- ernment—does not represent any diminution of national wealth; but instances are not lacking where the effort necessary to the paying off of an external debt has resulted in the permanent increase in the prosperity of a people. When Bismarck fmposed an indemnity of a billion dollars on France at the end of the Franco- Prussian war he thought he was crushing the French people under a hopeless burden, and that Prussian troops would garrison French fortresses for a generation. But, to the disap- pointment of Bismarck and the amazement of the world, France paid off the indemnity with- out any seeming effort, and the fesultant de- velopment of her resources, despite loss of the iron mines of Lorainne, left her richer and more formidable than she was before Napoleon III risked and lost his throne on the hazard of war. * Xk X X Predictions of ruin and bankruptcy as a re- sult of national debts have been heard since nations first began to borrow money, but of all the nations which have arisen and passed away there is not one the downfall of which can be attributed to inability to meet its financial ob- ligations. There have been a few instances where minor nations have repudiated their debts and continued a miserable and disgraced existence, but these states were of such meager consequence that they are hardly worthy to be cited as exceptions tending to prove the gen- eral rule. No people have been more fearful of the consequences of debt, and no people have thrived more greatly while getting constantly deeper into debt, than the inhabitants of the British Isles. England contracted her first na- tional debt in 1693, during the reign of William and Mary. The war with Louis XIV of France had been going on for a number of years, and had been going on badly for the Prince of Orange. Finally, at the end of the campaign of 1692, England and her half-hearted allies had been defeated at Steinkirk by Luxemburg, Louis’ and the future looked dark, not only for the house of Orange, but for the Protestant cause through- out the world. William's allles were for mak- ing peace on any terms, and it was apparent that only by the payment of large subsidies— which was the name under which bribes were glven and received in those days—could they be persuaded to take the field again. llament, fearful of a French invasion whith would restore James to the throne of England and send Protestant heads rolling from the block, was willing to do the bidding of the _ beenin- soverelgns, but when the land tax hud creased to four shillings in the pound and heavy impost and excise duties laid, the esti- mated revenues still were far short of the re- quirements, and the boast of the French king that “the last plece of gold will win” did not add to the happiness in England. * ¥ ¥ ¥ In this desperate emergency, the lords of the treasury proposed and parliament voted to issue a loan of a million pounds sterling. The loan was subscribed almost overnight, for the ‘war profiteers of those early days had few op- portunities for safe investment of thelr sur- plus wealth, and there was considerable agita- tion in favor of confiscation of hoarded gold. The financiers and economists were agreed that the loan must be paid off as speedily as possible, once peace had been achieved and the established government made secure, for such a , i load of public debt was regarded as an absolute bar to national prosperity. But the war with France dragged out its weary length, and when, finally, the peace was signed at Utrecht, the English national debt, instead of a million pounds, had grown to fifty millions. ‘ Whatever of rejoicing there might have been at the ending of the war was overshadowed by the terror of this awful burden. There was no ene so optimistic as to look into the future with anything but foreboding and despair. * k% % *x England was still sunk in the deepest and dankest of gloom when the war of the Austrian succession came along, and to meet its charges the public debt was increased to eighty million pounds. Statesmen, financiers and eConomists were contending among themselves how a nation might best call in 2 receiver to liquidate its in- sufficient assets, when war with France broke out again, and the national debt went rocketing up to 140 million pounds. Now the situation was desperate, indeed, and it was declared the end had come. To try to struggle on with such a burden to pack, were simple madness. It is true that here and there were-men who discerned and called attention to the fact that during the years in which the public debt had been piling up at such an alarm- ing rate England had prospered amazingly and that the national wealth had increased, if any- thing, faster than the debt. * ¥ % % But the things they saw and made note of had little credence in the councils of authority. Not with any hope of redemption, but as a drowning man clutches at a-straw, it finally was resolved that England might linger on a little longer if the American colonies could be made to help carry the burden. So the stamp and other taxes were devised and proclaimed; the American colonles refused to pay; the war of the revolution followed, and when it was ended England’s public debt had grown to 240 million pounds. While England was trying to figure how to pay 240 millions without the colonies, when she had despaired of paying 140 millions with their assistance, she found herself in the midst of the Napoleonic wars, the most costly up to that time in human history, and when the Corsican at last was safely banished to St. Helena, Eng- land was 800 millions pounds in dgbt. * k k k 5 The years of depression and stagnation which followed the Napoleonic wars long ap- peared to justify the direst prophecy of evils to come in the train of a national debt. That England was bankrupt was charged on every hand, and England pleaded guilty to the indict- ment. There is little doubt that at that time her liabilities exceeded her tangible assets. But her intangible assets were yet to be drawn upon. England was not bankrupt in morals or in man-power. She had the will to work and to pay, and therg was not an Instaliment of in- terest en this huge public debt, huge beyond precedent in history, which was not met in full on theflay it fell due. And’ net only did the English people, by their Influ.’.ry and t, have the gold ready to meet thy interest charges on the debt their government owed, but ‘their national weaith kept piling up 88 the wealth of no nation had ever piled up béfore, .and within 2 generation fter .Waterloo they had expended in building team railrpads alone as much money as would have served to @ischarge the public debt at the end of the American revolution. - *x % % So, it would seem, the story of England and her public debt ought to disabuse our minds of any doubt that the great bulk of the money owed this government by the governments of Earope can and- in time will be repaid. And the question of the form in which this repay- ment can be received without serious damage to our own national prosperity remains the per- tinent problem calling for consideration. (Copyright, 1021, by The Washington Btar.) Making Poland a Great Military Power Held to Lead to Another Terrific War ¥ History Refutes the Idea That Europe IU Cannot Pay War Debt Owed America tions. the Belgians came There Will Be Much .S. CAPITAL TO SEE POMP OF OLD WORLD of Glitter and Cir- cumstance About Coming Conference on Limiting BY G. GOULD LINCOLN. \ Y Y ASHINGTON and the nation are promised an entirely Y new experience when the great international confer- ence on limitation of armaments and the problems of the Pacific meets here in November. A spectacle, irre- spective of the results of the confer- ence, will be unfolded here such as has never before been witnessed in the new world. The representatives of five great; natiors, Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan and China, not 10 mention the representatives ¢f the Urited States. will be assembled here to discuss tepics of vital interest not alone to the nations, but to the entire wolrd. The represenatives of the sovereign governments, accustomed to the pomp and ceremony of the old world, will naturally regard with interest the formal arrangements for the conter-l ence in the great capital of the new world. And while the delegates will be here for business—business of the most serious and engressing kind—it 18 not to be expected that the govern- ment of the United States will nl|ow' anything to transpire which might of- fend the sensibilities of the dis- tinguised visitors. Has Entertaimed Royaity. | Already at the State Department the plans for the reception and en- tertainment of the visiting delegates are being given the most careful con- sideration. During the war, it will be remembered, Washington was vis- ited by delegations representing the allied nations, and later the King and Queen of the Belgians, not to mention the Prince of Wales, were guests here. So the people of Washington have had more than an inkling of what to expect when disarmament conferees assemble. In the first place, when each dele- gation reaches this country it will be met at the port of entry by the accredited representatives of this govern- Washington and see to it that the way i8 made easy for them. Upon ar- rival at the Union station here each foreign delegation will be received in the Presidential reception room at the station. Secretary of State Hughes, corresponding to the prime minister of the foreign governments, it is expected, will be present to wel- come the delegates, particularly if the visiting delegations include the prime ministers of .their various govern- ments. Lloyd George, premier of Great Britain, and Briand, the French premier, are expected to attend as delegates, and it is not unlikely that other nations will be similarly repre- sented. " President to Hold Aloof. Unless a sovereign or chief execu- tive of one of the other nations at- tending the conference should come to Washington, it is not on the cards that President Harding will go to the station te meet any of the delega- When the King and Queen of to Washington President Wilson was not avallable for their reception, but Vice President Marshall, acting in the Presidents stead, went with Mrs. Marshall to the station to greet the distinguished -visitors. Military escorts will be accorded each delegation as it arrives at the station here. The cavalry at Fort Myer, Va., will be used for this duty, it 15 expected, and will precede and follow the delegations to their tem- porary homes here. One ceremonial that will attend the I BY FRANCESCO NITTL Former Premlier of Italy. [E exaltations of patriotism the north, the Carpathians and th® Dniester to the south, the terri- tories as far as Smolensk to the east, and toward Germany, Bran- Austria, cannot but feel a sense of deep anxiety for her future. . Sooner or later, after the storm of boishevik degeneration has spent its are always extremely dan- gerous; they represent & collective intoxication which carries away as in a whirlwind the most serenely mind- ed of men: In this nationalist mania which has developed in Eu- rope since the war the more acutely stricken are the smaller peories which have worked them- selves up to a state of frensy and demand the realization of vast ex- pansionist programs, while some of them barely possess the means of existence. Greece, Jugoslavia, Csechoslo- vakio, Rumania and above all Po- land ars animated by ambitious dreams. The immediate object of these ambitions is invariably aim- force, Russia will find her legs again, and Germany, despite all the efforts made to dissegregate her and to break up her unity, will emerge: stronger than ever from her period of trial. What will then become of a Poland whose apparent raison d’etre 18 to divide and keep apart two peo- ples who represent numerically the two greatest forces of the Europe of tomorrow? denberg and Pomerania. The pa- triots of the new school dfeam of an immense Poland, the Poland of old, and are impatient to invade the vast fertile plains of the Ukraine and to lord it over broad new terri- tories. Real Poland, ethnical Po- 1and, ‘'should not have more than twenty million inhabitants, while the treaty of Versailles has as- signed her thirty-one millions. It is an artificial Poland, with two fundamental functions to fulfill— separate Russia trom Germany and constitute France's great military reserve to the east. x % ¥ ¥ * % ® ¥ Somebody In France has quoted Napoleon I's regretful exclamation in the solitude of St. Helena: *“Not to have established a powerful Poland to act as keystone to the European Everybody knows that between | Sdifice; not to have destroyed Prus- difficult and the very existence of democracies o insecure. Fortunately what is not logical cannot be lasting, and this gale of madness must soon blow over. ~ Poland, too, whom we sincerely love and toward whose future and prosperity we are desirous of co-op- erating, will understand that her safety does not lie in being the key- stone a military situation, which in the end could not possibly pre- wvail, but in being a force for peace and an element of equilibrium and Ute. ing of the national air of the delegates own country by the United States Marine Band when the party emerges from the station, while the military escort and the reception committees stand at attention. It is not unlikely that many high officials of the ‘gov- ernment, including Army and Navy offi- cers, will be pressed into service to act upon the reception committees for the various delegations. Precautions for Safety. Whether the visiting delegations will be accorded military escorts on their travels about- the- city and to and from the Pan-American bullding, where the sessions of the conference are to be held, is still to be deter- ’flrlvfl of each delegation is the play- (Copyright, 1921.) NAVY BUREAUS MERGED. 7 Bolicitor Heads Division in Judge Advocate General’s Office. = 2 Colncldent with the appointment ot| J¢cksd for Higher Post France and Poland there not only exist political and military treaties, but that Poland, moreover, may be regarded as entirely under the influence of France, her political system now bereft of all liberty! of movementts and Initiative. Poland, who 1s extremely poor, and whose currency is the most ed to the detriment of the neigh- boring states, but the counter- blast has the effect of disturbing the general equilibrium of Europe, where the modern means of pro- duction and exchange are daily be- coming mors difficult. * k¥ % of my life.” i Napoleon in his greatness as an observer regarded continental politics from an entireley mistaken point of view, namely, that of the durability of France's hegemony over Europe. Lasting begemonies are no l:ager possible. Poland has been conceived by the treaty of Versailles as a great state. It was not a question of resurrecting the Polish nation, but of creating a Polish military state, with the principal object of disor- ganizing Germany. Poland has been a political and . military rather than a national creation. ‘True, Polish patriots must con- sider with the greatest anxiety the task that has been set them, and we who are sincere friends of the Polish nation and impartial spectators of events must recog- nise that Poland, emerged as by & miracle from the war (for nobody could have foreseen the simul- taneous collapse of the two cen- tral empires and of the Russian empire), is following & most ab- surd policy and sowing the seeds of terrible and bloody strife for its people. : g At one time the confines of Po- land reached the "Baitie to discredited in Europe, receives financial aid from France. She is thus enabled to maintain under arms the most numerous army of Europe. Not only relatively, as compared with her population, but in absolute figures, no other Eu- ropean country, with the excep- tion ‘of Russia, maintains on’ a war footing so formidable an army as Poland. But all Polish industries are paralysed, paper currency is absolutely worthless, ~ and Poland’s economic activity de- Sreases every day. On the other hand, military expenses are-soar- ing to ‘the skies and the army &rows and grows in proportien. with the wave of hatred f6r Rus- sia and Germany. All of us who have loved Poland and have watched, rising from the iblic History repeats itself, and ererors duction which time often increases. All the controversies which are har- rassinfg and erhausting Europe, in- cluding the vexed question of Upper Bilesia, are nothing but a return of this old Napoleonic conception—to transform Poland into a great mili- | tary state at the service of France's expansionist policy and to disorgan- ize Germany. Ex xR ‘Those countries which, like the United States of America and Italy, took part in the war not with im- perialistic aims in view but prompted by a sincere desire for democracy and peace; those countries which, like Great Britain, regard the equi- librium of continental politics a vital ty, canrot but view with the greatness sadness the prevalence of sla; to have undervalued Russia; these have been the great mistaues possess a mysterious force of repro- Pickens Neagle as sollcitor of thc eta oover Navy Department was the issuance By Secr Ty H e of an order merging that office with the office of the judge advocate gen- eral of the Navy. The consolidation restored the status that prevailed prior to July, 1908, when Secretary Metcalf made the solicitor’s office an independent bureau. Under the new order the solicitor’s. office will be a division of the judge advocate general's. bureau for the consideration of purely civil legal questions affecting the naval estab- lishment. NO EXCUSE FOR LYING. Naval Academy Head Labels It “Unpafionable Offense.” According to Rear Admiral Wilson, superinitendent of the Naval Ac-ll-y,l lying on the part of a -ll-ll.-nl e dismissal of & midshipman for lating the rules of the academy, he 4, in part: “High standards of character are vital in a military organisation. Men In other walks of life may trifle with the truth in everyday affairs and suffer ‘We cannot damenta) of service is his that, little as & &5 Shosrs vai emmended by Secretary of Commerce ju t. an ue to 88, Armaments. mined. But careful preparations’ are being made for safeguarding the members of the delegations while in Washington, irrespective of the mili- tary. The city will be honeycombed with secret service men. Congress in making its recent appropriations for the conduct of the disarmament con- ference included an item of $10,000 for the protection of the visiting delegates. This protection, be it well understood, is against any enemies that may follow the delegates from their own countries, or from mis- guided persons already in the United States. Sinn Fein demonstrations, for instance, will not be tolerated by this government when the Eritish dele- gation arrives here. Following the installation of the delegates in their temporary homes will come the first formal calls by them upon the Tresident and the Secretary of s These calls will be conducted zreat formality. Those of the 4 tes who at home are accustomed wear court uni- form will und..htedly be so attired when they vi the representatives of the United States. With equal formality the calls will be returned by the American officials. There will also be calls, more or less formal, upon the embassies of the various governments already established here. President May Open It. The great disarmament conference, it is expected, will be opened in the Pan-American building by President Harding himself. This will undoubt- edly be an open session, no matter whether the business sessions of the conference are to Le opened or closed. The opening session will be brilliant in the extreme. The visiting delega- tions and the delezation representing the Tnited States will be seated in the conference hall in strict accord- ance with their rank and rules of etiquette laid down by long-estab- lished usage. In uddition to the dele- Bates and their suites there will be ment, who will escort the delegates W‘nlhered the highest officials of the American government at this opening of the conference, and such other per- sons as may be lucky enough to ob- tain admission. The American Con- gress, it is expected, will be in full swing at the time of the opening of the conferepce in November, and, for that matter, during the entire confer- ence. As many of the members of !hf Senate and House as may be ac- commodated within the Pan-American building will be present. When the conference actually gets down to busine: it is expected that Secretary Hughes, the head of the American delegation, will be the pre- siding officer. While this is a matter that undoubtedly will be determined by the conference itself, it is regarded as improbzble that the courtesy of presiding over ihe conference will not be extended to the American Sec- cretary of State. Brilliant Social Events. Much of the pomp and ceremonial, however, will be found in the activ- ities of the conference delegates out- side of the conference hall. It is ex- pected that during the period of the conference, which may last three or four months, Washington will be a scene of brilliant entertainments to a greater extent than ever before in its history. There will be the formal entertainments accorded the delegates by the American government. Con- gress has provided $200,000 for these luncheons, dinners and receptions. But it is not unlikely that this sum will be doubled before the conference concludes. Undoubtedly receptions at the White House, with a state dinner and possibly other forms of enter- tainment at the executive mansion, will be included in the list. Not un- likely a great banquet will signalize the close of the conference. In addition to these state enter- tainments there will be many din- ners and receptions at the various forelgn embassies here. And besides these, there will be & myriad of un- official but scarcely less brilliant balls, dinners and receptions given by residents of Washington in many of the palatial homes that grace the city. At all these functions the utmost attention will be given to etiquette and the proper precedence of the guests. While this government has no grand chamberlain or other official major domo to see to such arrange- ments, it has an official in the State Department whose particular duty it is to see that all the proper forms are observed. This is Charies W. Cooke, designated as “officer in charge of ceremonies.” Mr. Cooke has occupied this position for a num- ber of years and is entirely familiar with the forms demanded. It will be his duty to see that the proper precedence is given at official enter- tainment, that the formal invita- tions to these entertalnments shall be worded precisely as they ghould be, etc. Capital to Be Colorfal. Washington, if plans under way are carried. out, is,to be decorated with thousands of flags and the colors of the nations taking part in the con- ference. Whether any military dem- onstration will be undertaken in the midst of the conference which is’ called to consider the question of limitation of armaments is questionable. Moreover, exhibitions in the drill hall at Fort Myer, and aviation exhibitions at Bolling Field may be given for the en- tertainment of the visitors. At the conclusion of the confe: ence. it is not unlikely that a hand- some medal commemorative of the meeting will be struck off and pre-. sented to the officials who Iif s0, & al ave to be Lo