The New York herald., 1921-12-24

armament holiday Will tnuS cfeasc
throughout the world greatly increased
purch asing power and end the buyers
strike.
were by nature Mr.. BaNour saio
.;sonethins that encouraged defense and
DISCOURAGED attack. It Is nothing OF the
kind. The fact that you arc going 70
allow and give your general blessing 70
submarines---at least so ! ssther--puts
il In the power OF every state that mas
seaboard at all to make itself q formid-
able. aggressive enemy. italy has nve
maritime neighbors in the Mediterra-
mean. hope and believe that peace.
eternal peace, will reign in those waters
and In those ancient homes OF civi!i-
ration. But we are considering these
matters FROM rs It were, the cold ana
calculating view OF nfemoer OF
general staff. 49,,
.'He, looking a. It without any politi-
cal knowledge. without any foresight as
to the trend of opinion and merely con-
sidering how nations are situated, would
say to Italy: You have five neighbors
each one of which can. II 1t desires IT,
blockade your coast without having q
single surface ship of war at their dis
posal'
Now I will take the case of France.
France is nearly self-supporting IN
point Of food, and France has a great
lsnd frontier which gives her access. di.
rectly and indirectly, to all the great
markets of the world. She has posi-
ton of great security from the side OF
the sen. NJ. BRAND assured us IN very
excellent terms that she Is In position
of very great insecurity by tho side OF
the land, and he certainly Indicated to
rrt.av
required a large army now. but as
events develop she might again require
assistance from overseas. across the At.
,antic or across the Channel
This encouragement of submarines
this passionate declaration that II would
be almost criminal to Interfere with the
growth of this promising. though at pres
cnt infantile, weapon OF war-how Is
that going to be,nct?
Rrins Up New Point.
"Here must call attention to a fact
which has hardly been touched upon OF
noticed In the course Of this debate. The
only notice taken OF II. 80 far as
know, was In Admiral de Bon's speech
which we heard just now, In which he
said that OF course it was true that tho
case OF navies would be increased by the
deal with submarines 10 submarines were
allowed. But, he said, you could ge
those small craft from merchant chip:
and from your fishing population.
Now can France and Italy get those
! peopie from their merchant ships ane
their fishing population? Allow me 4
read the fgures.
| The whole war turned upon the pos
sibility OF keeping open communications
between Europe and the United states oi
America. Great Britain and France and
| to supply italy with the absolute reQui'
sites Of national life. That was the mos
difficult problem Of the war. Before
that you had to develop 70 Tie utnos
your auxiliary craft which dealt Will
submarines. Every one OF these three
countries had TO do everything the.
knew to carry out their object. These
are their comparative contributions tc
II: France, 257 ships: Italy, 2SS ships
Great Britain. 3.s76 ships.
III that war had been fought without
Great Britain. where are the merchant
ships and where are the sailors, WHERE
are the fishing folk that would have
manned the only protection you had Of
would have had against the absolut'
blockade OF your coast?'
Mr.. Balfour said people were apt 4
1
most by the continuation OF submarine
warfare because of her geographical
situation.
II do not deny that our position is
difficult one" he said, but we have ha,
to face the dificulty and we know tha
we can overcome IT,"
He pointed out that because OF II
great naval population. this great FISH
ing population and these innumerdb'
craft and admirable sailors tho Britis'
had been able to meet the submarin
peril
Security Not Imperilled.
mo other country In Europe has tha
population" he said. mo other countr
can provide that defense against sub
|, marines. 1t is not there. We had /
provide Il for France and for italy. There
fore ] say. do not let anybody suppose
though ! believe all our colleagues ar
bound up In this controversy. that W
, are the people who will suffer most 1
you decide. as you seem ready 20 de
eide. that submarines arc to receive tn
sanction of this conference.
; II know II will increase our cost an
. will increase II enormously, because w
should have to organise all che auxil
J larry craft against II. But that II Wi
imperll our security do not believ,
do not know whether all my friend
round this table can speak with equs
confidence OF their opinion
} Before restating che italian positio
that Italy could not ogree TO submarin
nbollshment at this time Senator Schan
Eer expressed to Mr.. Balfour ITALY
sincere gratitude" for what Enslan
, had done for Italy during che war. n
also thanked Mr.. Balfour FOR the In,
portan, remarks he made on tho partlc
ular conditions of italy as being su,
rounded by flve maritime neighbors an
thus exposed TO offensive action by an
of the FIVE.