Foreign News: A Plot

Commenting upon the visit of the Duke of Sutherland, British Under Secretary for Air, to the U. S. (TIME, Dec. 31), and upon the proposed international conference to limit aerial armaments, Le Temps, semi-official Paris journal, charged that the game of European intrigue has spread to the U. S. “It is now known President Coolidge was visited by the British Chargé d’Affaires and the Duke of Sutherland, British Under Secretary for Aviation, and these visitors spent an hour trying to convince him of the futility of calling an international conference to limit air armaments.”Mr. Coolidge told them, however, he did not judge the moment favorable. Yet the Duke of Sutherland later told newspapermen that Great Britain would be willing to participate in such a conference, but he doubted if France would again give approval of any disarmament conference. “It appears the British Under Secretary was instructed to involve the United States in diplomatic operations directed against France. We demand to know why.”