The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1921-11-23
PREMIER BRIAND
DEFENDS FRANCE
Says Dare Not Disarm at
Present
SAFETY REMAINS
STILL IN PERIL

French Premier Declares that France
| Cannot EGectuaIly Reduce Land
ArmamentS Under Present EurOpean
Conditions. Germany Still Prepar.
ing.
| Washington, Nov. 21-In an emo
tlonal plea for national security pro-
nounced by Aristidc BRAND, present
premier, France informed the arms
conference today that however deeply
she might be moved by the call to
Tighten the burden Of armament, she
dares not destroy the effectiveness of
her army SO long as the situation in
Europe remains what it IS.
Summoning to the effort all the
dynamic force Of his eloqucncc, the
strong man Of France" held the Wrapt
attention OF the conference for an
hour as he recounted one by one the
perls that beset his people Briefly,
he declared. the old imperialistic party
of Germany still was covertly teach
ing the religion of war and hoping to
| turn to it's advantage at the very
door Of France 100000 of men train
ed in the use Of arms, while beyond
lay Bolshevik Russia, with her mil
lions stirring in an unrest whose final
course no one could predict.
BY one means or another, said M.
BRAND, Germany had brought under
arms and was maintaining in state
of instant preparedness at least $780,
900 men. War material, he declared,
would not long furnish serious prob
lem, for the German nation should IL
decide to again make war The pres
ent German government he credited
with the most pacific OF intentions, but
the weakness Of it's tenure, he assert
ed, was apparent to any one who had
watched close at hand the develop
ments Of the last few months.
When the French premier had con-
''cluded Arthur j. Balfour responded for
Great Britain with virtual pledge Of
British support should the civilization
OF Europe again be threatened as it
was in 1914. For the United States
Secretary Hughes declared the plea OF
France never fell on deaf ears in
America and Italy and Belgium added
their work Of appreciation for the pc
culiar situation Of the French.
Admiral Baron Kato, speaking in his
turn, expressed the profound SYM
pathy Of Japan for the declarations Of
Premier BRAND and asserted that for
themselves the Japanese desired to
maintain on land only such military
forces as seemed necessary for ma
|tional security and the maintenance Of
order within"
Both Mr.. Balfour and Baron Kato
suggested that the days developments
seemed to indicate that any lmita-
|tion OF land armament would be diff
hcult to establish, and although the
subject was referred to a committee
of the whole for future consideration,
there was apparently no inclination
to hasten the discussion OF details. 1t
would not surprise some OF the dele
. gates IL the whole land armament ne
gotiations simmered down to an effort
|, merely to agree On a general statement
, OF policy. q
detailed figures on the present and
proposed military strength OF France
were not included in Premier Brands
address to the conference, but tonight
he explained that his illusions to
contemplated reductions forecast a
future strength OF 375,000 regulars as
against 100000 now under arms. This
would be accomplihed, he aid, by
: keeping only one and a half classes In
training, whereas at present there are
, two full classes and the existing
> law authorized three.
If any one asks us to go further"
said the premier in concluding his ad-
8 dress, II shall have to answer clearly
and definitely that 1t will be impossi-
lble for us to do 1t without exposing
0 ourselves to most serious danger"
--------------------
: Mr.. Job Little, Of Columbia, spent
several days in the city last week with
his mother, Mrs. j. Ran Little.