Evening star., 1921-11-18
HUGHES STRATEGY
PUzz[ES.ENV0YS
Representatives q From Other
Nations Study Effect of
Rapid Moves.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

The grand strategy. so to speak, OF
the United States delegation at the
armap pient conferences is puzzling the
representatives Of the other countries.
This is mostly because they do not
understand Hughes the negotiator.
The various delegations came here
with the idea that the United States
would not consent to the reduction of
her navy without first having a def
mite understanding of what was to be
done about aRrogating the Anglo
Japanebe, alliance and the settlement
of far edsteTn questions. This INFER
ence was drawn from the language
of the original invitation to the
powers.
When, however, Mr.. Hughes made
his famous speech at the opening ses-
sion of the conference some foreign
delegates thought they detected a
change of front, for Mr. Hughes said
plainly that he believed the work OF
the conference could be SO distributed
among committees without either
subject being treated as hindrance
to the proper consideration ana dis
position of the other"
On that word disposition" Is based
the confident statements which have
T been issuing from Washington In the
last few days that as soon as an
agreement On naval armament Is Sc
cured it would be signed without re-
spect to whether a. definite agree
ment had been reached on far east
ern questions. ,..-t
Mr.. Hughes Encourages View.
Those who have. talked with: Mr..
Hughes in the last twenty-four
hours have not found him inclined to
discourage that view. He seems to
be of the opinion that 1t is much
wiser for the whole conference 10
or else there will be mental reserva-
tions in the consideration OF one sub
ject which might interfere seriously
with the conclusion of an agreement
on the other subject.
Mr. Hughes appears to emphasize
rather the need of mutual trust and
an atmosphere of friendliness, so
that no delegation will suspect the
United States. at least, of trying to
.NFrga1T On the naval armament to
IzSsSnrs certain. concessions on iar
(rTStefn Que estions, or vfce versa.
\ The truth Is the key to the whole
Esituation is more likely to be found IN
I the mechanics of procedure than IN
/ sanything else. II an agreement on
jnaval armament could be reached a.
/ sonce. unquestionably tne AmersIan M a;an
Hit and put it out of the way as con-
crete achievement But the examina-
( tion by experts takes time. and mem
{bers of the naval body with whom the
talked today were un-
liable to hazard even guess as 70 the
.jne that. will be. consumed before
lima h. signatures can be attached.
] MeaffW hife, the effect of Mr.. Hughes
ItHeties thus far has been to make the
British and Japanese delegations ~
lleast believe that he is SO deeply In
i.fsrestsd in naval armament that he
would dispose Of that question quite
tapart from what happens on far east
fern questions.
American officials to whom this
view is broached insist that the for-
eign delegates do noAaD0ew Hughes'
| the negotiator. and khat ~ the Ian
euase of the original iHyitation IL
examined it will be sse1 how impor-
tant a relationship he concefves iar
eastern questions to- have with the
reduction of sea power In the "a
cific.
Foreign Statements.
The British and Japanese. through
given out the view that they believe
the United States delegation ia SO
much compelled, for political reasons.
] to point to concrete result from
this conference that they will sacrf-
flee most anythins. including China
tion of naval armament:
Whatever there may be to this
theory. the suspicion Is growing that
, Mr.. Hughes will be benefited by
events as they develop rather than Sy
talk among the Navy men of pro-
stracted discussions on the "details" Of
the naval program comedies nicely
with the debates in committee con-
Icerning far eastern matters. Another
important fact to bear in mind iE this:
Members of the American delegation
lin explaining the parliamentary rules
of the conference have emphasized
1.-THE fact that no action" is actually
taken except by the full conference
and thaS,whatever is done In COM
mittee A:simply a COMMITTEES report,
unanimous though the agreement
may be there. 1t is, therefore, being
freely predicted that when the COM
lmittee on Limitation of armament
reaches an agreement 1t will still b
necessary for a plenarX session to be
held to ratify that report.
Mr.. Hughes has been empowered to
call plenary sessions at will. The sug-
gestion is made that when the COM
mfttee on armament Is ready to report
Mr.. Hughes could speed up the COM
mittee on far eastern questions and COM
pei simultaneously the submission to
the full conference Of q report on the
general principles, at least, which
should govern international behavior In
the far east. The Hughes tactics are
far from being revealed, open as some
(of the moves may seem to be.
fo01