The daily times., 1921-08-13
PREPAREDNESS IS
NOT FAVORED BY
ADMINISTRATION
ARMAMENT A MENACE
However There is a School of
Thought Even in the Hard
ing Administration Which
Does Not Oppose Arma-
ment; All to Be Settled at
November Conference.
(By David Lawrence.)
(Copyright, 1921, by The Daily
TimeS)


Washington, Aug. 12.-Prepared-
ness of which so much was heard
first from Republican spokesmen and
later from Democrats has received it's
first solar plexus from the Harding
Administration. Secretary Hughes in
his formal invitation to Great Britain,
France, Italy and Japan to confer
ence on reduction of armament has
enunciated a doctrine which the
liberal element has been preaching
for years only to be desired by their
opponents.
Armament, in the opinion of Mr..
Hughes, is mot only without econo
mic justification but is constant
menace to the peace of the world
rather than an assurance of its pre-
servation.'
There is a school of thought even
in the Harding Administration which
doesn't agree with that theory and in
Congress, to be sure, there always
has been an element which like the
National Security League and kindred
organizations insisted that the sur
est preventive for war was prepar-
edness. The naval and military ex-
penditures of the United States gov
i,ernment have been variously defend
ed on the ground that it was necess-
ary to arm against potential foes but
the Harding Administration through
+, the Hughes note to the powers has re-
| verted to Woodrow Wilson's theory
which is that armaments should be
reduced to a point consistent with do
mestic safety-that armies should be
| arge enough only to exercise domestic
police power and that navies should
be simply coast guards.
| But the decision of the Harding
Administration as reflected in the
| Hughes nOte-tO insist that arma-
| ments are constant menace to the
peace of the world rather than an
assurance of it's preservation is real
ly sequel to the latest tests where
by bombing from airplanes was plain
ly shown to be a danger to the capital
ship which might in the future prove
l;conclusively the waste in the enor-
nous burden of naval ornaments
Some hint of this is given in. Mr..
Hughes further declaration that sit
may also be found advisable to for
mulate proposals by which in the in
,terest of humanity the use of new
agencies of warfare may be suitably
controlled
In other words the use of the air
plane and airship in dropping bombs
has revolutionized warfare and the
next war unless absolutely governed
by rules between the powers involv-
ed will mean an era of unparalleled
destruction. The impossibility of
getting respect for established rules
of warfare was demonstrated in the
last war and rather than face the
1iscouraging prospect of trying to reg
ulate a war while it is in progress,
the American government at least be-
lieve that the imperative course is to
take such steps as will prevent a col
the white race cannot stand another
war like that which began in 1914
The United States government has
not limited the invitations to a dis
cussion of naval armament but has
asked that all manner of armament
be reduced and that all sources of
misunderstanding be removed not
merely in the Far East but through
out the world. The significance of
this broad statement is just dawning
on official Washington for it means
that the Harding Administration has
embarked again on the seas of in
ternational diplomacy in an effort to
accomplish what was left incomplete
under the last administrations de-
finite agreamont RI ond vuorc Mr.