Evening star., 1921-11-12

Secretary Hughes in his speech fol-
lowing his accession to the duties OF
presiding officer Of the limitation OF
arms conference today suggested that
the conference should proceed to con-
slider the question of the limitation
Of armament
Secretary Hughes then proceeded to
announce the proposal of the Amer
ican delegates as the basis OF pro.
gram. for the limitation of naval
armament. Summarized, 1t is:
years. in which there should be no
further construction Of capital ships.
The four general principles sug.
gested by the United States were set
forth as follows:
That all capital shipbuilding. pro-
grams, either building. or projected,
Should be abandoned. s---.;s5!E----. !s.-.
That further reduction should be
made through the scrapping OF cer-
tain Of the older ships.
had to the existing naval strength OF
the powers concerned.
That the capital ship tonnage
should be used as the measure OF
strength for navies and propor-
1ionate- allowance OF auxiliary COM
batant craft prescribed.
Speech in Full.
Secretary Hughes speech. in full
follows:
"Gentlemen: It isgwith deep
sense of privilege and responsible
ity that I accept the honor you
have conferred.
Permit me to express the most
cordial appreciation of the assur- .
ances Of friendly o-oI,e,;a co-oper,ation, on
pressed by the representatives OF
ali the invited governments. The
earnest desire ard purpose. mani
Tested in every step in the ap-
should meet the reasonable expec-S
tation of a watching world by
effective action suited to the op-
portunity Is the best augury for
the success Of the conference.
"The President invited the gov
erpments of the British empire,
France, Italy apd Japan to partici-
pate In conference on the subject
Of limitation of armament, In con-
necfion with which Pacific and far
discussed. 1t would have been most
aErseabIe to the President to have
Invited all the powers to take part
In this conference, but 1t was
thopkht TO be a time when other
practical requirements of the ex-
fsflng exfgency, and in this view
tbs Invitation was extended to the
group known as the principal al
lied and associated powers, which,
duced by the war, control in the
main the armament Of the world.
The opportunity to limit armament
lies within their grasp.
Approve Invitation.
1T was recognized, however, that
the interests Of other powers in
the far east made it appropriate
that they should be invited to par
ticipate In the discussion of Pacific
and far eastern problems, and,
with the approval OF the five pow
ers, an invitation to take part in
the, discussion Of those questions
has been extended to Belgium,
China. the Netherlands and Portu-
gal.
The inclusion Of the proposal
for the discussion OF Pacific and
far eastern questions was not for
the purpose OF embarrassing or
delaying an agreement for limi-
tation Of armament. but rather to
support that undertaking by avail
ing ourselves Of this meeting to :
endeavor to reach common un-
derstanding as to the principles
far east and thus greatly diminish,
and, If possible. wholly to remove,
discernible sources of controversy.
1t is believed that by interchanges
OF Vl0"S HI IAIS OpQOFCUuo tlIne
the governments represented here
may find basis OF accord and
thus give expression to their de-
sire to assure enduring friendship.
"In the public discussions which
have preceded the conference.
there. have been apparently two
competing views; one, that the
consideration Of armament should
await the result of the discussion
of far eastern questions, and. an
other, that the latter discussion
should be postponed until an
axreemant for Limitation Of arma-
ment has been reached. I am un-
able to ind sufficient reason for
adopting either of these extreme
views. I think that 1t would be
most unfortunate II We should
disappoint the hopes which have
attached to this meeting by &
postponement Of the consideration
Of the drst subject. The world
looks to this conference to relieve
humanity Of the crushing burden
created by eompetition in arma-
ment, and u Is the view of the
American Devernment that We
should meet the expectation with
out any unnecessary delay. 1t is,
therefore. pecposed that the con-
ference sheal4 proceed ct once to
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