The atmosphere of good friendship and equality, engendered by a well-furnished room, good cheer, pleasant company, and a genial hostess, disarms prejudice, removes barriers, melts reserve, and disposes one to see that there is another side to every question.
In China when people have quarreled their friends generally invite them to dinner, where the matters in dispute are amicably arranged.

These are called "peace dinners".

I would recommend that a similar expedient should be adopted in America; many a knotty point could be disposed of by a friendly discussion at the dinner table.

If international disputes were always arranged in this way the representatives of nations having complaints against each other might more often than now discover unexpected ways of adjusting their differences.

Why should such matters invariably be remanded to formal conferences and set speeches?
The preliminaries, at least, would probably be better arranged at dinner parties and social functions.