CONFERENCES

Mr. Lloyd George has more than once divided all conferences into three classes. There is the open conference where reporters are admitted and the entire daily proceedings are discussed at length in the newspapers. Then there is the conference held behind closed doors, merely the results, not the immediate proceedings being made public. Finally there is the third variety which has the vices of both; partial disclosure is often allowed, but the conference on both sides insist on all their demands, refusing to give way on any matter.

Conferences of the first class occur daily. They are the sort conducted by religions seets, professional associations, and labor organizations. No real business is settled at such meetings; all policies being determined in advance, the delegates merely voting on them frequently they seem to be called chiefly to please the vanity of the delegate and impress him with the magnitude of his organization.

The second or business type is that favored by Lloyd George. Here authorities, behind closed doors, may discuss and arrive at temporary conclusions without having to expend their efforts daily in combatting the attacks and criticisms of the Press. When obtained, the results are made public, but the public must leave the responsibility of arriving at these conclusions to the men in whom she has placed her confidence. As for the third variety, which usually results in a deadlock, it scarcely deserves the name of "conference" at all.

The coming assembly at Washington, we are told, is to be of the first type in that its decisions are expected to be openly arrived at. Whether it will later degenerate into an impasse depends on the attitude of the delegates; it would not be very surprising, however, if the Conference, in order to work efficiently, should presently find itself forced to adopt the Premier's idea of a "business conference". We shall be interested to see.