Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-11-15
HUGHES PROMPT
MOVE FORESTALLS
OTHER DELEGATES
Continued from page 1.

Continued from page 1.
colonies for foodstuffs and raw ma
terials. The worst menace to her Is
II strong sumbarinc section of pos
sible cnemy's navy. 1t will be remem-
bered that during the war England
had more than one food scarce when
the u-boats were scoring heavily upon
Allied craft.
No matter what final form the
armament agreement may take tho
foundation will be the Hughes pro-
posal. That is deep-laid in the minds
OF the people Of the world TO whom the
American Secretary of State made his
appeal. No doubt 1t was that which
caused both the British and the
Japanese delegates TO let it be known
that the Hughes proposal was "ac-
cepted In principle," which merely
means that the general idea is pleas
ing.
There is one paragraph in the pro-
.posal which has not been commented
on, but which may influence the
powers TO more readily accede to the
suggestion of scrapping capital ships
under construction, and holding the
ten year holiday. That is paragra Oh
u, which reads:
The limitation of naval aircraft
is not proposed. Note: lowing TO
the fact that naval aircraft may
be readily adapted from special
types of commercial aircraft, II is
not considered practicable to pre-
.cribe limitations FOR naval air.
craft)
Recent tests made off the Virginia
capes by the United States Govern
ment, in which aircraft bombed Ger.
tain of our obsolete naval vessels
used as targets, showed that the day
of air supremacy over capital ships i.
approaching. 1t is true that not every
bomh hit its mark, nor WAS the dam.
age done so terrible that naval officer;
declared their vocations gone. Fa,
from Il. But unprejudiced OBSERVER:
felt that other things being equal. i'm
proved aircraft, in quantities, could b
used successfully against any givei
fleet approaching any given shore o
any given nation. 1t is entirely prob
able that the next ten years will sc,
as great Improvement in plans as tn
last half century has witnessed il
capital shipbuilding. \ holiday iron
building capital ships would result il
enormous savings to all Government
concerned. y very. very small portiJl
OF that saving could be used in pur
/ chasing aircraft for military purposes
/ II necessary.
OF course the question arises, wha
/ is the use of limiting the production
of capital ships, il aircraft, producuo
is not to be curtailed? There is onl
cne answer TO that. Limitation of ship
| building is the beginning Of the re
! duction of taxation, and the primar
motive behind this conference Is M
! the humanitarian one, but the eco
nomic one. Delegates are not gathere
here merely because they hate wal
with its attendant pain and sufferins
They are meeting because the worl
faces bankruptcy If the armament rae
continues. They realize that the peo
pies OF the world are bending beneat
enormous economic burdens whic
have been placed upon their backs D
war. They know that something mus
be done. and that Immediately. to ALA
world unrest, which is no myth.
The humanitarian naturally ASK
hut II commercial aircraft can be cor
verted so quickly into machines
offense and defense "a few hours Wi
convert an ordinary plane into
jbomber, its effectiveness depender
upon it's size) then why not limit tn
Or iuction OF all aircraft? This clas
can cite as n precedent that portion
the Treaty OF Versailles, which fol
bids Germany to build motive aircra,
lof any description for q. period
! years. There is only one answer
: that. civilization is progressing, an
the airplane is the logical carrier
the future when speed is desired. Or
might as well do away with peace
time telegraph lines. because they ca
be used to transmit war messages,
the gasoline motor tractor, becaus
{. can be converted into deadly tan
: Germany's hands We're tied in tn;
, particular because the lesson Of II
Zeppelin's conversion from commerce.
carrier TO long distance bomber ha
, not been forgotten. and il was deem'
! advisable TO remove from her II
ability 10 make any sudden offensi'
n by use Of air craft.
s But both classes Of persons, tho
4 most interested in the economic sit
: and those vitality concerned in II
: humanitarian viewpoint. should
S overjoyed because Of the powerf
e start which the Conference has mad
4 One does not have 10 be prophet
3 predict that no matter what the fin
: agreement is, all nations within Il
4 next decade will spend less money ,
: armament than they would have
e this Conference had not been held
J provided that some unforeseen act do
not break up the meeting. And u
q public has cause to. believe that ii
possible that sentiment, unakin
y war. may be so engendered IN d
statesmen of all nations that for yea
to come incidents which otherwi
might cause war may be diplomatics
!. ly handled. :. -. Pea
from war and peace from econon
burdens may be seen family on I
worlds horizon. 1t is 10 be hop
that IL is not a mirage.