New Britain herald., 1921-06-02
THE NAVAL BILL.

There arc reasons tor a feeling of satisfaction to people of various opin- ions in the passage by the Senate of the Naval appropriations bill call ing for the expenditure or $494.OOO.- 900 for the maintenance of the naval forces and the continuance or the naval program formulated in 1916.
 Those who rpalizc the necessity at the present time of maintaining our determination 10 continue to get ready until such time as there will he nothing to get ready for. will be satisfied at this further step toward enactment Of the measure.
 Those who see the wisdom of the plan for disarma ment. as set forth in the Borah amendment which is part Of the bill, will see hope in the fact that when the bill goes to the President his definite stand will be- come known. From indications coming from the White House Presi- dent Harding might possibly veto the measure because the conference on disarmament amendment does not in- cludc the land forces of nations But 1t is extremely improbable that Inc would take this step after the bill has been debated as thoroughly as it able that the bin would not have passed tho Senate had it not been known there that. at the present. at least he approved of it's form.
 The fact that Senators Borah and Kenyon voted for the bill ia signiti- cant. Senator Borah could not well do otherwise as it's passage meant the approval Of his amendment. But his willingness to have his amend ment. looking 10 reduction of cost of naval anairs through his plan for a disarmament conference. go into the great appropriations bill. shows that he. at least. must believe there is no inconsistency in adopting the policy of continuance Of preparation until the disarmament conference plan brings results and there is no longer any necessity for the appropriating Of such vast sum for naval pur- poses.
 The most satisfactory feature of all from d general point of view is the fact that party lines wcry again rroken. It is Il novol sight to witness tho leader of the Dcmocrati" party in the Senate and the Republican leader Joining in favoring mcasJrc so under discussion. Whatever po- litital schemes are in the minds of Senators this aspect of the action on the bill cannot fail to bring satis- faction.
 II will be some time before the bill will go to the President
 The confcrecs of the House and Senate will differ on the amount or tho appropriation, as House and Sen ate have differed already There is little question but that the Borah amendment will stand unless world conditions. especially European con dIttuns change.
 As long as the situation in Europe remains as it ts President Harding will be the last 10 object to whatever delay k caused by the discussions Of the cOnfereca. In fact it is believed he would welcome delay. If only because Of that same Borah amend mont he has indicated that he was in no hurry. He may or he may not have his action determined upon 1 in his own m,nd. but after all | K sRid and don" his action on the 1 bill. when II reaches him, will un- dOubtedly he governed by conditions outside our own COuntry--at least as such action of his K influenced by the portion of the bill referring to tho calling of a disa rmament confer l encc.