Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-05-20
Limiting Of Armaments.

Inc conference fcdQ1FmS It's Qecldrd-
ton Of last year respecting the porten-
tous growth of military and naval es-
Establishments and calls renewed attention
to the fact that the rapid development of
the instrumentalities of law and justice
for the settlement of international differ
enceS furnishes to the craftsmanship of
the civilized world the long desired OPP
portunity of limiting by agreement these
further increase Of ornaments:
The coming celebration of the one
hundredth anniversary of the agreement
between Great Britain and the United
States definitely limiting their naval
force to 400 tons and four eighteen pound
ers on the great lakes and the St. Law
renee river, calls renewed attention to
the continued menace to the peace of
the world caused by prevailing conditions
we'll expressed by former President
Roosevelt in his Christiania address, that,
with sincerity of purpose. the great pow
ers of the world should find no insur-
mOuntable difficulty in reaching an agree
ment which would put an end to the
present costly and growing extravaganza
Of the expenditure in naval ornaments
Business Men Speak.
The Business Mems Association of the
conference, representing between fifty and'
sixty chambers of commerce in the
United States and Canada, yesterday
afternoon adopted a declaration to be
presented to the conference tomorrow,
in part as follows:
THE business interests Of the world
are keenly alive to the abnormal condi-
tons that from time to time destroy the
confidence of peoples and interrupt the
workings of their interdependence. The
greatest and most distinctive of these
are those of the apprehension of or the
positive realization Of war. Nothing can
be of greater Importance than such agen-
cieS as will prevent these conditions from
arising or will quickly end them when
ever they do appear.
1--WE regard arbitration as but an in
termediate station on the way to the
international union, whose arbitral
court OF justice will be the final court
Of the world. from whose decision there
can be no appeal"
Favors Arbitration Treaties.
DR.. Charles w. Eliot, president emeri-
tus Of Harvard, addressed the confer
ence last night. DIR. Eliot said in part:
ut is a solid fact that an overwhelm
ing majority of the English people feel
1t to be for them a matter of life and
death that they keep ready for instant
action fleets capable Of preventing in
VdSlOu anu the cutting OIL Oh the 1000
supplies and the raw materials which
come to them over seas. The only way
in which promoters of peace can at this
moment make Roadway against the ap-
prehension of invasion is to urge the
making Of arbitration treaties and the
establishment of permanent court of
arbitral justice.
THE reduction of armament on land
must await the establishment of such a
supreme court unless, indeed, neigh
H. l,ry
make local agreements for reduction
analogous to the invaluable arrange
ment made in 1917 between the United
States and Great Britain, concerning
ornaments on the great lakes"
Voice of the Navy.
Rear Admiral ]. B. Murdoch. command
ing the second division of the United
States Atlantic fleet. said in part:
II know that 1 am voicing the opinion
of my brother officers in stating cate
goricauy that the navy is for peace. No
sane man who knows anything of war
will ever look forward to it as anything
but a barbarous method Of settling dis
putes. and the sanity Of the men in the
navy and their knowledge Of what sac
rifices war would demand from them per-
sonally render them eager to join in any
civilized substitute for it.
I'VE do not argue on the question of
arbitration, but accept it implicitly. We
are proud Of the advanced position our
country has taken in furthering the cause
of arbitration, and sincerely thankful for
all that has been secured.
I'VE take special pride in the fact that
one of the American delegation to the
second Hague conference was a naval
Ohcer-nOt a theoriSt or specialist or a
man out Of touch with the spirit of the
service, but one who afterward COM
manded our battle fleet In its voyage
from San Francisco to Hampton roads,