The New York herald., 1921-12-25

France in the future was from the land
side, and that consequently It was quite
impossible for France to permit any
diminution Of land armaments.
AS a result Of this, he added, the
conference found itself confined to naval
disarmament alone. France then, he
said. proceeded to develop her sea policy
which embraces the creation of a vast
submarine fleet"
BalfOur ON Frances Danger.
'If the danger to France" Mr.. Bal
four continued, 'is Of the magnitude
which has been indicated, and IL France
(Which Heaven forbid) will again in the
future have to call upon her friends and
allies. or late allies, for assistance In
men and assistance in munitions, 1t will
be. suppose, because her great Eastern
reighbor has not merely revived her
army, but has in part revived her navy.
The one is not likely to take place with
out the other; both are contrary to the
treaty of Versailles Very we'll.
I'VE must then assume that there are
$4,000, 900 or 100000 Germans against
whom France has to be prepared. and
we must assume that those 60.00O.00 or
100000 are supplied, if with nothing
else. at least with the easiest and the
cheapest of all ships that can be built
namely. submarines. How Is France GO
ing to deal with that situation? Her
building Of submarines Is no use at ALL
Let her make her fleet of submarines
what she will, they do not protect either
her own merchant ships or the trans
ports OF her neighbors and friends. They
are weapons Of offence, not, as we hear
so often, weapons Of defence, and in no
sense would these submarines be able
to give one atom of assistance to the
French nation, IL she be threatened as
l have indicated. -
"To whom. then, is she going to look ?
There is but one nation in Europe which
is or can be made, so far as can see,
adequately safe against submarine at
tack. and that for. l almost said. social
and economic reason which cannot well
be copied. We and we alone. so far as
/ know. in Europe have that large popu-
lation. that large seafaring population.
which can be utilized for the manning
of the small craft by which alone SUBJ
marines can be controlled in those mar
row waters. o..
$50 that I must assume. If 1t be
true that France, in the crisis con-
templated by NJ BRAND Is going to
call upon her ancient allies for assis.
tance in her hour Of need. It is upon
our anti-submarine craft that she will
be dependent for the possibility Of tha.
call being obeyed How Is that con-
sistent with the building of this huge
mass of submarines which anybody who
looked at the matter from a strictly
strategical and tactical point of view
would certainly say from the very geo.
graphical situation was built against
Great Britain?"
Criticixes Fears of France.
Continuing, Mr.. Balfour said:
when we try and combine the mill
tary policy announced by M. Briand
with the naval policy announced by
Admiral De Bon we cannot fail to see
that here is a naval and military scheme
strangely incoherent and inconsistent.
Men will inevitably ask themselves:
What is the ultimate end underlying
ALI that is being done? Against whom
Is this submarine fleet being built
What purpose is it to serve? What
danger to France Is it intended to guard
aeainst?' know of no satisfactory
answer to such questions.
LET me now say one word upon the
more general aspect. think there Is
something to be said in favor OF this
part of the contention of M. Sarraut.
He asked us by what authority five
nations at this table could legislate for
the world We cannot legislate for the
world; we cannot compel the world to
take our opinion"
But" Mr.. Balfour inquired, 'if a
conference of this authority were really
unanimous and really put forward upon
broad moral grounds the statement that
In their view submarines were not a
tto%
civilization would that not be
the preIude 20 their ultimate abolition?''
81 cannot imagine" Mr.. Balfour said
at another point. anybody reading his
tory supposing that even IL the relative
mower of Great Britain in the century
which is to come was comparable to the
relative sea power in the century whic,
has passed, the liberties of the world
would have anything to fear. look
forward myself to the changed situation
without fear and without any misgivings
Great Britain is strong enough to defend
herself and she wants nothing more than
TO defend herself"
ItaIy's Case Presented.
Senator Schanzer spoke as follows:
my colleagues are acquainted with
the principles upon which, according to
our opinion. the solution of the problem
of naval armaments must be based.
These principles are the parity
Of the Italian fleet with all other large
neigh boring fleets and the reduction OF
naval armaments to the quantity
strictly necessary for a defensive naval
policy.
"The above principles have been ap-
piled In regard to capital ships; they
must also be applied with regard to
the other categories Of naval arma-
ment.
May venture to add that in view
of the entirely special conditions OF
Italy's maritime position we could
claim, without being accused Of ad-
vanc,ng excessive demands, an even
greater proportion with regard to cate
gories other than capital ships, such as
submarines and light craft
"It may be added that the conditions
of our submarine flotilla are absolutely
insufficient from a technical point oi
view.
Despite the limited field of opera
tions i'm the Adriatic Sea and the prox.
unity of the enemy's naval bases from
our own (roughly 100 miles), Italy
found during the war that her subma-
rines were insufficient both with re-
gard to their field OF action and to their