The Washington herald., 1921-12-11

Oulltu states udu dsTttu TO MI.
Hughes naval program.
Public Easily Swayed.
This was one of those snap judg-
ments that are always disturbing
gatherings .Iike this conference.
Press and public seem to forget
when some fragment of the pro-
gram on which the body is working
attracts unusual attention that it is
fragment and that there are still
other things to follow. when it
seemed sure at the end of the first
week of the conference that Mr..
Hughes naval program would 60
through practically as it had been
laid down you heard talk on all
sides from those who ought to have
known better that the conference
would be out of the trenches by
Christmas. Yet there was a long
and difficult series of questions still
untouched.
1t was France that dragged land
armament into the scene before
the time scheduled for it's appear
ance. France did not play much of
part in the conference at the
start. Her time had not come. She
has not been accustomed to being
off the stage in recent years. and it
worried her a little. Then Mr..
BRAND had to go home. To accom-
modate him he was allowed to max e
his plea ahead Of what would have
been the chronological order It
swung the conference a long dis
lance from the point where il was
then operating. The French pre-
mier made ii perfectly clear in his
speech. something that has been
curiOusly ignored. that France was
cutting her army in two. from
100000 to $4,000 men-was propos-
ing to reduce her term of service
from three years TO eighteen
months But, said NJ. BRAND, France
can not do more in limiting her
armament unless England and the
United States will guarantee her
safety And he went on to de-
velop the French theory that Ger
many and Russia are dangerous
menaces to Western Europe
Powerful as was his oratory. his
material did not convince those at
whom it was directed. Mr.. Balfour
and Mr.. Hughes made most sympa
thetic replies. protesting that
France could be always sure of the
! moral support, at least. Of England
aud America IL she were attacked
wantonly by any power. but they
made no sign of giving the kind of
guarantee that was sought
What BRAND Accomplished.
One important thing that NJ. Bril-
! and did
| into sharp relief the fat that land
and naval ornaments can not be
handled separately that they dove
tan IN the game of war and that
to cut the navy of a nation whose
main defense is ships, without con-
sldering the relation of that cut to
the size of the armies OF those ma
tons in which armies are the chief
defense, is to leave an unbalanced
situation.
A second realization went along
with this and that was that the
scrapping and cutting by nine ma
tons must be done with an eve to
the actual or potential ornaments
OF the other forty-five or so nations
of the earth.
Mr.. BRANDS speeth made YOU
realize how France and Italy must
consider possible continental ALI
ances Of powers that are not repre-
sented at this conference; must ron
slider a possible Russian crusade tn
convert the world by force to its
gospel. And il France and Italy
must secure themselves against
these possibilities, could England
weaken herself disproportionately?
"hen you begin to consider the
question OF armament in terms of
the world and not simply of nine
nations. You can not If you are
candid find any peaceful solution
but by bringing everybody in
Germany, Turkey. Russia Now 1t
may be, though we do not know
Mr.. Harding we'll enough yet to
say. that the logic OF the experience
that the conference has been going
through up to date laid hold of him
and he said IL like a man-'There
Is but one way out, aud that Is nv
one big union"
Listens to the PeopIe.
or course, there is another ex-
PLANTATION OF why he did it, and 7
rather think II may be the true one
after all. The President may be
hearing from the country. One
thing that We do know about him IL
that he is man who with almost
religious care listens to the voices
that come up to MIN from the peo-
pie. And 1t is no secret that a muI-
ttude Of voices, strong and weak
have been calling to him in the last
Few weeks, conference" "associa-
ton league" some method of
carrying on in which everybody can
join. In no other way can we hone
for permanent peace. 1t NAV he
that Mr.. Harding had heard so much
OF this that he felt he much replv
And IL this is true, he has son.
wisely.
We may take 1t as one Of the
deepest convictions of the present
world that some sort of association
OF nations is necessary. So far as
we can determine. the world is not
set on any particular form or cove
nant. though, of course. there is one
TO which some fifty-three Of its ma
- l.