Evening star., 1921-07-24

|
In the fiscal year ending June 80.
| 1920. the appropriations for the ma
| tional government aggregated $685.
, $4,000. OF this sum there was ex-
pended for the War and Navy de-
/, partments S1.424 13S, ,667. or 25 per
| cent of the entire amount: S3,S5o. .0O0.-
| 900, or 81 per cent. went for previous
| wars. in the way of pensions. etc.
! For primary governmental functions
| $1S1 100000 was expended. or about
| 80 per cent of the whole. For public
works of every description the gov
ernment paid out s16S. 100000. For
research and educational development
this nation lavished the sum of ST.-
1850. or 1.001 per cent of the whole
sum expended.
EOR the various departments of re-
search. for the upbuilding of good
citizenship for the Americanization
of our foreign element: and for such
other educational work as the govern
ment finances in part or wholly. we
appropriate l per cent? of $500. .0OO,-
l000. raised by various forms Of tax
rafion: for wars. past and looked
forward-to. SO per cent.
Many American statesmen assec
that if the coming conference shall
prove in all respects as successful as
1t Is reasonable to expect. the pro-
portions for our future expenditures
Will be reversed. that for our ordI-
nary governmental functions. for good
roads. public buildings. capacious
harbors. irrigation projects. reclama-
tion OF swamp lands. pensioning the
aged. educational work, scientific re-
search and the like, we shall expend
SO per cent of the whole. and for the
armament of such a police force as
! may be decided upon. per cent 1t
is recognized that this objective can
not be fully arrived at for many
years. however. for the wars of the
/; past must first be settled for.
President Harding and Secretary of
State Hughes are inGulginS in no
| Ctopian dreams as to what may be
accomplished. but are proceeding
about their task in a Thoroughly prac-
tical and businesslike way They
know that complete disarmament is
not possible in the present day and
age. but they believe that if the great
powers of the world get round table
and face the facts squarely they can
come to some agreement which will
make possible a material reduction in
armaments. thus enabling the various
governments to lift from the shoulders
Of the people the enormous burden, OF
1t has Been made perfectly plain
, who Is responsible for the initiative
in the present move for disarmament
Despite reports from London. which
! would tend to give Premier Lloyd
I, George crodit for the suggestion of a
J world conference on disarmament. it
is known that the first definite moves
both for disarmament and for discus
sion of the problems of the Pacific
came from President Harding.
The first action instituted by the
President was to instruct Col. Georgr
Harvey. ambassador to the court of
St. James. to put out "informal feel
ers" during the sessions of the su-
preme council to ascertain the atti-
tude of the powers toward disarma-
ment. These 'feelers" having brought
favorable reaction. the State De-
apartment made informal approaches
to the various powers through the
American ambassadors. to ascertain
, how they would view an invitation
from this government TO participate
in conference on far eastern prob
lens and the question of disarma-
ment to be held On Washington.
IN almost record time responses
came from four of the five nations
invited. indicating their unqualified
Willingness to accept such an invita-
ton. France was the first to for
ward her cordial acceptance,and she
was quickly followed by Italy. Great
Britain and China in the order named
:. There was temporary hitch in the
, case of Japan. however. though it
cannot be truthfully said that the
administration ever entertained a Sc
rious doubt as to the action Japan
would eventually take.
In this problem. as in all the other
international tangles with which he
has been confronted in the four and
a half months during which he has
/, been Secretary of State. Mr.. Hughes
has been actuated by desire to at
tack the problem in the way which
seemed most likely to produce defi-
mite. practical results. Believing there
could be no lasting understanding on
the question of disarmament until
the causes of friction were removed.
and perceiving that one of the most
prolific sources of future friction lay
determined that there should be a
settlement of those questions before
the general question of reducing. mil
itary establishments should be taken
up. Hence his suggestion that the
two great problems be considered at
the same conference.
While Secretary Hughes would
probably be the last man in the
world to claim such credit, there
national affairs who insist. that he
has very neatly outmaneuvered both
the British and the Japanese. Just
prior to the announcement of the
proposed disarmament conference to
be held in Washington the British
imperial conference met in London
for the purpose Of determining,