A blunt, honest Dutchman was looked askance at, in Geneva last week, as the League Assembly continued in session (TIME, Sept. 17 et seq.).
Representatives of all the Great Powers, except Japan, told the Dutchman that they were "surprised"' at him.
President Calvin Coolidge was reported by cable to be not only surprised but pained.
Yet Japan's representative, Naotaka Sato, maintained that, speaking both for himself and for the Japanese Foreign Office, he thought the Dutchman's suggestion excellent.
Thus everyone was obliged to seem "surprised" all over again at Jonkheer Doktor J. Loudon, stiff-necked Minister to France of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, and Chairman of the League of Nations Preparatory Disarmament Commission.
Jonkheer Loudon broached his suggestion, last week, by declaring that he is tired of having every session of his Disarmament Commission break up in fruitless disagreements. "Therefore," said he, "I refuse to reconvene the Commission . . . unless ordered to do so by the Assembly, or unless there seems to be some real prospect of agreement. . . .
"My intention," concluded Jonkheer Loudon, springing his suggestion, "My intention is to urge the delegates of the Great Powers [including a U. S. observer] to meet in Paris to discuss with me in secret the possibilities of arriving at an understanding."
No sooner had the Dutchman spoken than Great Britain's Baron Cushendun and M. Paul-Boncour of France expressed disapproval and repeatedly used the term "surprised." Both told Jonkheer Loudon that their governments could not countenance a reversion to "Secret Diplomacy." Since Britain and France have just come to a secret naval understanding (TIME, Aug. 13) the indignation of their representatives was akin to that of small boys caught in the jam closet.
Within 24 hours the U. S. State Department unmistakably informed the press that Jonkheer Loudon's proposal was deplored by both President Coolidge and Secretary of State Kellogg. Thereupon one of Jonkheer Loudon's smart Dutch secretaries pointed out to correspondents at Geneva that President Coolidge conducted his Nicaraguan election negotiations (TIME, April 18, 1927) not merely through secret diplomatic channels but by means of a "personal representative"* who never had any public or official status at all.
Though these instances might seem to hint that the Great Powers have already reverted to "Secret Diplomacy," Jonkheer Loudon quickly found out that only M. Sato of Japan was willing to admit the fact. Therefore League progress toward Disarmament was again impressively halted.
Jonkheer Loudon persisted to the last in refusing to reconvene the Disarmament Commission and scathingly declared that, even though plenipotentiaries of all the Great Powers would not join with him in a secret show-down parley, "I am still ready to confer with the representatives of four powers, or three or two."