New-York tribune., 1921-12-21

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December rs, 1891.
My Dear III. Briand: In new of
your distinguished service at the
Conference on Limitation Of Ar
mament and Of my esponsibiiities as
chairman Of the conference. ven-
tufe to address to you this personsi
word. am happy TO say that the
conversations between the United
States, Great Britain and Japan as
to the proposal which made on be-
half of the American government at
the opening of the conference with
respect to capital ships have result
ed in q provisional agreement. Great
Britain and Japan have accepted the
naval ratio as proposed and the re-
duction of capital ships with such
notifications rs do not seriously al
feet the principle involved. japan
keeps the Mutsu and scraps the
Settsu.
The United States finishes two
ships s---the Colorado and the Wash
ington, now about 90 per cent COM
plesess-~and scraps the North Dakota
and the Delaware Great Britain will
build two new ships and scrap four,
to wit, the Erin, the King George Y.
the Centurion and the Ajax. The
result is that the United States still
scraps thirty ships--that is, thirteea
OF the ships under construction ard
seventeen. instead of lifteen. OF the
older ships-leaving the number OF
ships the same as under the original
proposal. with 3 tonnage Of $4,000
tons. instead OF 10000 tons. Thus
n.D.,
tons of her ships exclusive Of pre-
dreadnoughtse. Great Britain and
Japan scrap TO an equivalent extent,
Japan retains the same number Of
ships as proposed and scraps seven
teen as proposed, her new tonnage
being S1SS00. instead of about 500
900.
Allowance for Britain
On Account of Old Ships
Great Britain scraps o2.s0V tons
more than originally proposed. leav-
ing her tonnage $4,000, instead of
604, 400, her excess being allowed in
view OF the age OF her existing ships.
The new limits are very little diff
ferent from those proposed, being
$4,000 tons for the United States
and Great Britain and $4,000 tons
for Japan. The naval holiday as to
capital ships is agreed upon except
for the construction of the ships
above mentioned. In short, under
the original American proposal there
were TO be scrapped by the three
powers sixty-six capital lighting
ships. built and building, with q
total tonnage (taking ships laid
down as completely of l,S78,000 tons
Under the present arrangement, on
the same basis of calculation, there
are 10 be scrapped sixty-eight capi-
tai fighting ships, with q tonnage of
1,861,000 tons.
You will thus observe that there
has been simply a slight readjust-
ment in the three navies with re-
spect to the ships retained, but that
the sacrifices proposed by the Amer
lean government have substantially
been made and the principle as laid
down is being carried out so far as
these three powers are concerned.
The agreement, however, as to the
number of ships to be retained by
them is dependent upon an appro-
pirate agreement with France and
Italy with respect to their capital
ships. Italy is desirous to reduce
her capital ships, because of the OBJ
vious requirements of her economic
life, to the lowest possible basis,
and there will not be the slightest
difficulty in making an agreement
with Italy if we can reach suitable
understanding with France.
You will observe the attitude Of
France will determine the success or
failure of these efforts TO reduce the
heavy burden of naval armament.
Academic Discussion of
Aspirations Is Avoided
In dealing with Great Britain and
Japan we have taken facts as they
are. We have avoided an academic
discussion Of national needs and
aspirations which in the nature Of
things could not be realized. 1t has
been pointed out that the ratio of
strength in capital ships is that
which exists, and that it is futile to
desire better one, for it cannot be
obtained if nations with abundant
resources build against each other
in competition. The .pre-dread-
noughts possessed by the three pow
ers are to be scrapped without any
suggestion of replacement, and there
has been reduction of more than
40 per cent of the naval strength
represented by dreadnoughts and
super r-dreadnoughts. Now France has
seven dreadnoughts, with tonnage
Of $4,000. Reducing in the same
proportion as the United States has
reduced, her tonnage of capital ships
would be fixed at $4,000; OF if the
e-dreadnoughts of France were
taken into calculation on her side,
although omitted on the side of the
United States, the total tonnage of