Thumbing one's teeth is, of course, much more polite than thumbing one's nose. At the second Hague Reparations Conference, last week, Chancellor Philip Snowden of the British Exchequer thumbed only his teeth at his adversaries from across the Rhine, even-tempered German Foreign Minister Julius Curtius and meek Finance Minister Paul Moldenhaur.
The Chancellor thumbed not once but several times. When either of the Germans made a demand to which the Allies were not prepared to yield, the right Snowden thumbnail was placed tight under the Snowden upper front teeth and snapped twice in accompaniment...