THE CABINET: Delegates Depart

At the door of the office of the Secretary of State in a low, cushioned chair sits a small stoop-shouldered negro named Edward Augustine Savoy. Aged 75, he has been swinging open the Secretary’s door, ushering in and out Ambassadors and Ministers, since the days of Hamilton Fish (1871).

Last week Usher Savoy was swinging open his special door not for Secretary of State Henry Lewis Stimson but for Undersecretary Joseph Potter Cotton. This was no demotion for Door-Swinger Savoy but a temporary promotion for Mr. Cotton to the No. 1 Cabinet Post. Statesman Stimson had departed, with four other U. S. delegates, to the London Naval Conference.

Farewells to the U. S. delegation were protracted. President Hoover breakfasted the delegates, advisers and technical experts. He told them what he expected of them. Afterward in a voice edged with emotion the President read a statement to the press which began: “I am sure the whole nation bids godspeed to the American delegation . . .” and ended: “… I hope the people of our country will cooperate in the progress of the conference by patience, encouragement and freedom from criticism. . . . We go to London in a fine atmosphere of international good-will.”

Four of the delegates—Statesman Stimson, Ambassador Morrow, Senators Reed and Robinson—hastened to New York to prepare for embarkation. One and a half baggage cars were loaded with papers and documents for the delegation to take to London.

Two days later the delegation assembled aboard the S. S. George Washington at her pier in Hoboken. Delegate Charles Francis Adams, last to leave Washington, traveled to Jersey City in a special train, filled with advisers, clerks, stenographers, correspondents and servants. There Democratic Mayor Frank Hague drew up a reception committee to greet him at the station. But Delegate Adams hurried so fast to catch his boat that the committee never saw him. Aboard the George Washington he found himself assigned to the same suite that President Woodrow Wilson had occupied eleven years ago when he sailed for the Paris Peace Conference.

In the official party were 162 travelers, including Statesman Stimson’s chauffeur Peter Gittius, four maids, three valets. Delegate Adams brought along ten Marines as “messengers.”

Great was the confusion aboard the George Washington before sailing. Mrs. Stimson was badly jostled by news cameramen seeking her husband. A delegation of New Jersey politicians came aboard. It was all Ambassador Morrow could do to squelch their demonstration in behalf of his candidacy for the Senate. Statesman Stimson, in a final interview, was drowned out by the rattle of a deck winch.

The air fairly vibrated with optimistic statements. Said Statesman Stimson: “We start out with high hopes of bringing our mission to a successful conclusion.” Declared Delegate Reed: “I am sure of ultimate success. . . . There’ll be less intrigue, less so-called diplomacy at this conference than at any international meeting heretofore.” Admiral Pratt, a technical adviser, declared there were no technical difficulties, added: “We should sail for home with an agreement within two months.”

At last the George Washington, breaking out all her flags, nosed out into the Hudson River, steamed down the bay and out to sea. From Fort Jay boomed 19 guns, a Cabinet salute which Delegates Stimson and Adams took from the bridge.

At sea the delegates held daily conferences, plotted and planned what they would do. Remarked Delegate Reed: “We have forgotten politics. We are just Americans now.”

In London the delegation would be joined by its other two members, Ambassadors Dawes and Gibson. Its headquarters would be at the Ritz and the Mayfair.