Bisbee daily review., 1921-02-05
HOUSE DECIDES NATION SHOULD
 TAKE STEP TO
 AID MOVEMENT
Chairman Butler Indicates International Meet To
 Be Called Soon ADMlRALS WITNESSES Naval Officers Give Diver ing Testimony Regarding
 Power Of Airplanes

WASHINGTON. Feb. 4.-Satisfied from testimony of large number of witnesses that calling of an interna- tional conference to discuss disarma- ment would meet with general approv- al. the house naval committee tod called ten high officers of the nlyy. and one of the army. and heard a vast amount of divergent and confus- ing testimony as to whether aircraft had made capital naval vessels use less
 Before the committee settled down to listen to the officers, however. Chairman Butler announced positively that an international disarmament conference would be called by this country. He did not say when. the call would go out. but it was assumed from his line of qestioning that 1t would be shortly after President-elect Harding, with whom Butler recently conferred, takes office.
 Rear Admiral William $. Sims, war time commander of all American nav al forces in European waters and present head Of the naval war college. the first witness called, counselled against immediate abandonment Of the capital ship. He added. however. that ir aerial forces demonstrated the value he expected them to in the near future they would soon make major surface craft useless. He op- posed disseminating work on the great 1916 naval building program and declared nobody is going to take his hand off his gun" until conditions be come settled in Europe.
 The superiority of the hattleship over either the airplane or submar- inc was defended by Rear Admiral Charles J. Badger. head of the gen eral board and former commander of the Atlantic fleet, who declared the hattleships\ and battle cruisers would remain the backbone of the fleet for years to come. He did not believe. he said. that anything very definite would come out of the proposed dis armament conference but said it was worthwhile effort.
 Still another view was presented by Rear Admiral Bradley A. Fiske, retir- ed, former member of the general board and inventor of the torpedo plane, who told the committee that aerial dreadnaughts would be the cap ital ships of the future,
 Brigadier General William Mitchell, chief of training and operations Of the army air service, called to the stand. told the committee that it was sim ple matter for air forces to hit and destroy battleship and repeated his testimony of last week before the appropriations committee to the effect that aerial developments had made surface navies obsolete.
 General Mitchell cleared up one point that had been causing the com mittee some wonderment all day. when he declared that data, supposed by naval officials to be secret, but disclosed by him before senate committee. had been secured by army officers who attended the bombing of the old battleship Indiana at the tn- vitation of Secretary Daniels.
 General Mitchell was on the stand when the session concluded and will continue his testimony tomorrow.
 All of the naval officers who tes- tified stressed the necessity for the immediate construction of high speed airplane carrying ships.