The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-11-18
By DAVID LAWRENCE.
(Snecial Despatch to The Reformer.)
Copyright 1921.

(Special Despatch to The Reformer.(
Copyright 1921.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1S,-Great
Britain expects to answer the American
desire for an abrogation of the Anglo
japanese alliance with a concrete pro-
posal that a new treaty or agreement be
substituted which shall be signed not
only by England and Japan but by all
the nations interested in guaranteeing the
open door, in China.
Whether such a convention should
contain an absolute guarantee Of the ter
ritorial integrity and administrative indie
pendence of China or whether the same
object would be achieved by pledges to.
! respect China's political independence is
still a matter of debate. But the big fact
! is that enough confidence as to the prob
able solution of the question prevails as TO
| lead the American delegation TO show
1 Willingness to sign the agreement on a
/ reduction of naval armament without
waiting for the adjustment of Far East
/ ern questions.
British Attitude ON Alliance.
British policy on the AngIo-Japanese
Ialliance is revealed by Arthur James Bal
/ four who makes it plain that the Anglo
Japanese alliance would be superhuous
/ if all the powers entered into an agree
ment with respect to the Far East cover
/ ing substantially the same points as
4 were in the alliance Mr. BaIfour real
! ICES that the word alliance" is objec-
| tionable to American opinion and there
/ fore the talk now is on the agreement.
/ Whether the conclusions reached should
/ be embodied in treaty To be submitted
! to the American senate or whether an
exchange of notes at this conference
/
/ the British who have sent the United
States many executive agreements only
/ to have them repudiated by the senate.
/ The influence at the moment, however,
Iof President Harding and Secretary
I Hughes with the American senate Is such
I that an agreement made at this confer
ence stands a very good chance of being
4 ratified By the senate. particularly as Sen
ator Underwood, leader of the Democrats.
could marshal enough votes to assist in
getting the necessary two-thirds for rati-
/ fication. u..'
/ Incidentally the Chinese proposals have
/ in the main produced a favorable impress
IsiQn. Tt is realized that many points will
/ have to be discussed. but the truth is the
/ Chinese were expected to ask for a great
4 deal more. Their proposals are couched
/ in language which many British and
american officials think is an augury of
/ a successful outcome of the Far Eastern
tpart of the conference.
4 May Avoid Land Armament.
/ As for land armament. there is a move
ment af0Ot to transfer the entire question
] TO the league of nations. This originates
out Of a chance remark of Il member OF the
| British delegation who. in discussing the
Iquestion of land armament. pointed out
Significantly that the league of nations
already has a commission ut work on land
armament. Inasmuch ~ both the United
4 States and Great Britain have reduced
their armies to a relatively small size,
1.-THE question largely affects nations in CON
/ tinental Europe. =.
/ President Harding considers the league
| of nations to be a useful body for the
settlement Of purely European questions,
and Ambassador Harvey, Americas repre-
sentative on the supreme council. did not
/ express any objection when the same
group of powers as are represented here
formally referred the Silesian dispute TO
/ the league of nations. 1t would not be
surprising to see the problem. of land
/ armaments passed on to the league of ma
1 lions with America silently asserting
! Unless such course is chosen, the land
armament problem is confidently expected
1 by members of the various delegations
here to open up all sorts of European
questions, especially separations and Sc
curity for France from a possible German
] invasion. High administration officials
4
! IL might be wise for the United States to
/ find a way to relieve France of her army
/ burden and this is taken to mean that
America might. after all, participate in 4
1 discussion of land armament as well az
the stability of Europe from an economic
rather than a political viewpoint.
| One Thing at a Time.
The attitude of the American delegaI
/ ton, however, is to settle one thing at
1 time and nail it down Thus the momen-
| tum given the naval armament proposals
/ is such that every energy is being exerted
/ to reach an early agreement irrespective
| of everything else. Under the stimulus of
such an accomplishment the American
| delegates are represented as feeling sure
| the Far Eastern questions would be as
effectively adjusted
| Land armament problems will, of
course, be discussed by Premier BRAND
at an open session, but il begins to look
doubtful whether the subject will be ex-
haustively considered unless the naval
armament and Far Eastern problems are