The daily times., 1921-11-14
HUGHES PROPOSALS
WERE TYPICAL OF
AMERICAN TACTICS
OUR CARDS FACE UP
The Immediate Announcement
of What America Proposed
to do Toward Limiting Arm
ament in the World Surpris-
ed the Visitors Who Are
Used to Slower Methods.
tBy David Lawrence.
Copyright, 1921, by The Daily

NSOpyTISul, l., Dy Inc DAILY
Times)
Washing ton, Nov 12-The United
States laid it's cards on the table face
up.
In the first public session Secretary
Hughes. head of the American dele
cation, surprised everybody by an
nouncing the American proposal for
the limitation of armament
1t was a bold and unexpected
stroke on the part of the American
delegation and fairly took the
breath away from the visiting dele
gates who have been accustomed to
secret conference before anything SO
concrete is made known. Realizing,
however, that public opinion is Amer
cas- greatest piller of strength in
bringing the conference to a success
full end, Mr.. Hughes took the entire
world into his confidence and showed
how far America was willing to go
to achieve a reduction in tax bur-
dens. 1t was this paragraph in Mr..
Hughes address which indicated the
extreme to which the United States is
willing to go:
THE United States now is complet-
ing it's program of 1916 calling for
ten new battleShipS and six battle
cruisers. One battleship has been
complete. The others are in various
stages of construction; in some cases
from sixty to over eighty percent of
the construction has been done. On
these l 5 capital ships now being built
over $33O,OOO,00O have been spent.
Still the United States is willing, in
the interest of an Immediate limita-
ton of armament, to scrap all those
Ships
Mr.. Hughes poined out that the
United States would not reduce arm
ment unless the other natOins agreed
but if the plan were accepted, fully
thirty capital ships, aggregating 845,-
| 74O tons, would be scrapped.
Mr.. Hughes suggested in his plan
that for a period of not less than ten
years there should be no further con-
struction of capital ships" Tremend-
Gus applause greeted this statement.
f.. For Great Britain, Mr.. Hughes sug-
gested that construction on the four
new Hood battleships be stopped and
that in addition all pre-dreadnaughts
second line battleships and first
lime up to the King George w class
be scrapped This would mean, he
explained, a total of nineteen capital
ships or a total tonnage to be Wiped
out, including the new Hoods. Oh
l5S3,375 tons.
This is less in tonnage than the
United States would lose thus pre-
erving the idea of ''the existing nava
strength of the powers concerned
For Japan, Mr. Hughes proposed
that in all two new battleships ano
-four battle cruisers be abandoned. HI
remarked that this does not involve
the stopping of construction, as the
lconstruction of none of those SHIPS
has been begun" Next, Mr.. Hughes
advocated that Japan should scral
the famous "Hutsu" and "Kago,' th'
two most powerful battleships eve
planned as well as four battle cruls
ers authorized but not laid down
THE total number of new capital ship
crapped would be seven and the tota
tonnage 2S9,OOO which together witt
, ten battleships of the second lin
would mean a grand total of 1882
tons.
1t will be noted that under thl
plan the United States would agre
= to give up the most tonnage S45,74
| as compared with Britain's 1888
{ and Japan's 44S,92S.
Requirements are always vita
} factor as nations are accustomed t
| consider certain ships out of date e'
, cry few years. Here came Mr.. Hughes
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