American Notes of the Week
(By Cable)
THE Fiv-E-PowEn CONFERENCE.
News received here so far from the London Conference has been frankly unexciting, although there has been a great amount of it and it continues to share with Prohibition the pride of place on newspaper front pages. In view of the expectations aroused by Mr. MacDonald's visit, and the elaborate arrangements made by the American Press to " cover " the Conference by sending an army of special writers to supplement the large number of resident staff correspondents in London, some impatience at the lack of decisive news and tangible evidence of progress might have been expected. Indeed it has manifested itself here and there, but in general nothing is more remarkable than the restraint which the Press here has exercised in the genuine desire to keep the discussion free from premature prejudiced or sensational comment. One of the difficulties with previous international conferences in Europe has been that of arousing and retaining popular interest in them here, owing to their remoteness. That difficulty has been largely overcome in the present instance, for, in addition to the newspapers, radio broadcasts on a national scale by leaders in the negotia- tions and by competent observers engaged for the purpose, have served to bring the issues home to people even in the most remote parts of the country. From the time of the King's opening speech the average American citizen has had a sense of being in direct touch with what was going on in London, such as was entirely lacking in respect of the Geneva and Paris conferences. The complete public coif- fidenee in the American Delegation and the general disposition to await decisions patiently are encouraging factors. It will be important to retain both public interest and public confidence and for this reason the announcement that the plenary sessions are to be open to the Press in future is welcome. * * * *
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