The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-10-31
armament Conference
Secrets Are ReUeaIed

now without addltlonal shpS anu Iie
first thing you know you are IN the hlldst
of 4 technical discussion in which 1t lsI
Enointed ont that absolute disarmament IS
unthinkable because police force i
needed for domestic safety and that re
duction of armament and limitation OF
armament mean two distinct things as
viii be explained hereafter
There's also. an inside story of how the
conference came to be called. 1t throws
a good deal of light on what 5 going to
baDpen. This will be told in another
dispatch. ...-.
Conference of Reconstruction.
| The Paris conference merely drew UP
treaty to end the war. 1T couldn't pos
sibly do everything. The whole social
| and economic fabric of countries, both
neutral and belligerent, had been torn to
pieces What Paris failed TO do toward
| reconstructing the world the Washington
conference will attempt. The viewpoint
at Paris was to get peace establlshed
quickly The passion of haste has dlsap-
reared All the nations meet now IN Il
calmer and more quiet atmosphere. lhe
Injecting was called to limit armament anu
/ talk over Far Eastern questions, but the
mission of the Washington conference Is
lone of healing 1t is to be conference
of reconstruction out of which should
/ come NOT merely an understanding as TO
the size of armies and navies, but a bet
fer spirit toward the preservation OF
peace and a reimbursement of hnandal
burdens so that world trade may be re
vived and wheels eff industry may hum
once more.
Frances Position.
For no matter which way one turns.
the problems under which the world Is
struggling seem to have definite relation
shin to each other. France resentS the
talk that she is maintaining large
standing army merely because her otncefS
want jobs and her militaristic spirit Is on
edge. She says she keeps that army be-
cause nobody else will offer an army TO
protect her against a German INVASION
/ But the Germans are disarmed, you Will
| say. To that France answers: ter,
many has not yet paid her war bill.
Ask the man on the street in France and
he will remind you of the millions that
are dead and the millions that live on
manned and crippled, and he will ASH
what your plan Is to insure against an
other invasion or what your idea Is OF
| how the German shall be forced to pay
his bill
Turn over to England. The man OF
the street there knows the British fleet
saved him from death. Except for that
fleet. the food supply of England would
have gone to the bottom at the whim OF
the submarine. Twice in a century the
feet has saved the Briton. He hates t.
, part with it-and will not lightly agree
to stop building.
What Japan Wants.
Then look Mt Japan. Millions and mil
| lions of people squeezed together on .
few islands struggling for an outlet
They look toward China with its wealthy
resources. Who shall stand in the way
of their development? But the big pow
ers-the United States, Great Britain
Italy. France and the rest-refuse t.
allow China to be despoiled. The over
seas trade of each country cannot bC
jeopardized by allowing Japan a monop
oily in the Far East.
The man on the street in Great Brit
ain. Frante and Japan makes public
opinion. Collectively his power talks
Would the man ION the street in the
United States go to war with Japan tC
save China? President Roosevelt once
told the German ambassador he didn't
think SO. The Far East is too far away
But why should America carry the bur
den alone? All Far Eastern problems
heretofore have Deen settled by a coali
ton of powers-nothing so formal as al
alliance but an effective combination Of
countries having vital interests to pro
tect.
To Regulate All Nations.
The object of the coming conference
therefore, is to draw up rules and regula
tons for the behavior of all nations in the
+ Far East-an effort to establish equality
of commercial opportunity. Indeed. il
goes deeper than that. Sources of fric