Sphinx-President

Two most distinguished Argentine jurists, Dr. Carlos Alberto Alcorta and Dr. Luis Podesta Costa, tried repeatedly and even frenziedly, last week, to obtain an audience with the new, silent and seclusive President of Argentina, Dr. Hipolito Irigoyen.

The jurists were not presuming, bumptious. They had every right and every reason to see Sphinx-President Irigoyen. The previous President of Argentina, Dr. Marcelo T. de Alvear, had appointed them Delegates to the Pan-American Conference on Arbitration and Conciliation which convenes in Washington on Dec. 10, 1928. Before leaving for Washington--and time was getting short--the Delegates must receive instructions from the Argentine Government as to what to do and say in Washington.

They could obtain no instructions. The President would not receive them. When they called repeatedly at the Foreign Office, the Minister was always in conference. Therefore, last week, Delegates Alcorta and Costa mailed their resignations. Officially there was no explanation. Perhaps President-elect Hoover will ask President Irigoyen, "Why?"

Argentina will not be officially represented at the Conference in Washington. The new Argentine President and "boss politician" intimated recently (TIME, Oct. 22) that he was vexed by reports that President Calvin Coolidge had made up his mind to raise the tariff on corn and flaxseed. Vexed anew, last week, was President Irigoyen when the Independent El Diario of Buenos Aires issued a presumptuous statement that it expects the government to refuse to sign the Kellogg Peace Pact on the grounds that Argentina is "a traditionally peaceful country."