Mr. Henderson, we are glad to say, has been invited
to preside over the Disarmament Conference next year. On Tuesday, in asking the European Commission to appoint a Committee on Procedure he took the opportunity to make a speech that deserved -to be taken very seriously by the delegates present, for it was extremely sensible and conciliatory. He pointed out the economic difficulties common to all countries, emphasizing one of their causes, namely, that people were asked to pay in gold, which they had not got, their debts • for loans or goods, while they had all the time goods and products with which they could pay, but which they cannot sell. He insisted that only by international co-operation could this deadlock be removed. He also supported President Hoover's condemnation of armaments, and foresaw great advantages if success attended the Disarmament Conference. He was face to face with the Russian delegate, whom he solemnly assured that Europe had no schemes for fighting Russia, with whom all wished to live peaceably, trusting to the observance of obligations. He was right to lose no chance of saying so, but M. Litvinoff was presumably unimpressed, for he knows perfectly well that no country wants to fight his, that the accusation is only made by him and his colleagues to incite their people to militarist fervour, and to distract them from their misery. He knows, too, whether he has been newly converted, or not, to any notion of observing international obligations.
