The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-02-05
AMERICA WILL CALL WORLD CONFERENCE ION DISARMAMENT
This Is Positive Statement of Chairman Butler of House Naval Committee, But
 Date Is Not Given
Br Asso,ciated rress

Washington, February 4.--Satisficd from
 testimony of q large nranber of wit
 nesses that calling of an international conference to discuss disarmament would meet with general approval, the House naval committee today called before it
 10 high officers of the navy and one of
 the army and heard vast amount of divergent and confusing testimony as to
 whether aircraft had made capital naval
 vessels useless.
 Before the committee settled down to listen to the officers. however. Chairman
 Butler announced positively that an in-
 ternational 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 questioning that it would be shortly after
 President-elect Harding, with whom MT.
 Butler recently conferred. takes office.
 Rear Admiral William s. Sims, war time commander of all American navA
 forces in European waters, and present head of the naval war college. the first
 witness called, counselled against im-
 mediate abandonment of the capital snip.
 He added. however that if aerial forces demonstrated the value he expected them to in the near future they would soon make major surface craft useless He opposed discontinuing work on the great l91e naval building programme, and de- clared nobody is going to take his hand off his gun until conditions become set- tied in Europe.
 DEFENDS BATTLESHIP The superiority of the battleshp o~er either the airplane or the submarine was defended by Rear Admiral Charles J. Bs drer. head of the general board and dar of Atlantic fleet. who declared that battleships 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 disarmament conference, but said it was a worthwhile effort
 still another view was presented oy lRear Admiral Bradley A. Fiske, retired. former member of the general board and 1 inventor of the torpedo plane, who told 1 the committee that aerial dreadnaughts would be the capital ships Of the future- Brig. Gen. William Mitchell. chief of l training and operations of the army ar ] service called to the stand, told the com | nittee that it was simple matter for air forces to hit and destroy battle shin. and repeated his testimony of last week before the appropriations commit ! fec to the effect that aerial develop I ments had made surface navies obsolete 1 General Mitchell cleared up one point lthat had been causing the committee 1 some wonderment all day when ne de- {, olared. that data, supposed by navy of-
 icials to be secret, but disclosed by him
 before a Senate committee, had been se-
 cured by army officers who attended the bombing of the old battleship Indiana al \ the invitation of Secretary Daniels l General Mitchell was on the stand when the session concluded, and will lcontinue his testimony tomorrow. An,of the naval officers who testi- 1 fed stressed the necessity for the im- mediate construction of high-speed arr plane carrying ships.
 1 w nile the House committee heard this Testimony the Senate naval subcommit-
 tee drafted an adverse report on the res.
 cmtion presented by Senator borah. re-
 ,nonfhs. suspension of naval building
 while exAerts study the best type Of ships