Her financial resources are limited. Her political situation is uncertain. Italy depends also completely upon foreign help for her food supplies. A few German submarines almost succeeded in bringing shortage of food in England. From the point of view of her resources as well as of her geographic independence, Italy finds herself, as regards France, in serious conditions of inferiority.
Naval forces constitute only one factor of that disparity.
Since Italy lives within the limits of a sea which it would be easy to close entirely, no country could be more attached to the principle of the freedom of the seas, a principle of which America is an ardent defender. The question of general security is the most important for them. For France absolute security lies within a defensive entente with Great Britain and a favorable interpretation of the Kellogg Pact by the United States. In fact the United States have the right to protect themselves against an event which constitutes for them a serious threat. They have the right to be interested into a conference against war just as they would interest themselves into a conference against plague, against noxious insects, etc.