The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1921-11-30
Liberal American Propo-
sal for Scrapping Capt.
tai Ships to Stand.
WOULD MAINTAIN
STATUS 10 YEARS
Discussions Today Looked
To for Solution of the
Strained Situation.

! The fate Of the armament con-
| ference rests in Toxic today. japan
as has been anticipated from tie
outset, can make or mar the deci-
sion. She retains the last word. She
can accept the American naval pro-
| gram, now completely endorsed by
the United States, and make the
| conference a success. or She can
| continue TO insist on the lO-lO-7
ratio in naval strength and the
wild. mad rush for naval supremacy
will continue until the world is in
volved in another war.
That was the situation facing the
conference when its days activities
ended last night This does not
mean that an iRpasse has been
reached. Far from this. But 1t does
mean that the friendly outcome OF
/ the conference rests entirely on a
decision by Japan. Members Of the
! Nippon delegation late last night
explained that they hoped for an
/ accord. They called attention TO
| the fact that il takes from three 10
four days for a reply 10 reach Wasa-
iHgton TO an inquiry that is sent to
I Toxic. And they intmated that a
final decision might soon be forth
coming. However, IL was suggested
I that there was a que>ion Of opiu-
1 ion among the delegates here and
L also was intimated that Up TO the
, present at least, the delegation was
not unit in its naval opinion.
Opinions Mean Little.
In this connection Prince Toku-
/ gawa, chief Of the delegation. last
. night suggested that the views OF
any individual member OF the per-
sOnnel or its chief advisers. meant
I little. He suggested that while they
might entertain opinions at var
lance with the possible outcome of
the conference they stiN could
change these opinions when the
final decision was brought before
the representative OF Japan With
out stating so in specific terms he
irtimated that the opinions OF in
dividUal members Of the delegation
still had TO be Submitted 10 a vote
OF that delegation.
How frank that statement is will
be developed today. The complete
committee on naval armament.
made up OF the delegations from
the United States. Great Britain
and Japan. will receive the reports
Of their experts. They probably
Will hold an executive meeting. Al
that time they will have to reach
a final decision. II VIII be whether
the demand Of the United States
for the reduction OF capital ships
shall be accepted. Japan last night
suggested that ii was not yet readv
annnnnFa
have been meetings throughout
Japan at which the question Of the
l0-l0-6 ratio has been discussed.
They have been near riots in de-
nouncing the suggestion. The Jap
anese delegation here is divided a4
to whether these meetings acCur-
ately represent the viewpoint of
Japan. They are more or less di-
vided on problems Of policy. but
the decision finally is up TO Japan
and despite denials-it Is up 10
Toxic.
American Position Fixed.
The American position is not sub
Ject to change. 1t was arrived at
only after most painstaking inves-
tiGation. Far greater sacrifices
were made by the United States
than was asked Of either Great
] A1l lAdAu OI japan rom lle nlE ElNef
American source possible the fol-
lowing outline was obtained last
night:
The situation as il appears today
is simply that IL we approach his
subject on the basis Of national
needs there is very much that can
be said. Great Britain has possess
sions in every sea. The United
| states has a vast coast line on two
oceans and insular possessions
widely separated. II you take ma
uonal needs. as suggested by Japan.
their basis Of 10 to as a ratio
is very eXtravaganJ In fact the
experts Of the United States. after
a very careful inquiry, placed the
figure from this standpoint as az
10 to 5. But at no time has the
United States approached this sub
ject from the standpoint Of national
needs. We understand that this IS
a subject that can be expanded at
| will.
What the United States has said
in assuming the leadership in dis
cussion OF the naval race is: stop
where you are" That is the Amer
lean position. Let us take an il
lustration. There is a foot face.
Some one says stop. Al agree.
Then some one of the contestants
asks to get ahead ten yards. That
is not the position Of the United
States. The question that We faced
simply was what is the existing
naval strength? No one questions
that the capital ship is the basis
Of naval strength
Ronds Lead Same Way.
So we considered il from that
standpoint There are several roads
that we can take but all should
lead TO the same solution. So at
the outset We consider:
keels laid.
Ships built.
Ships under construction where
keels have been laid.
AnalyzIng that ratio the result
is 100 to IS between the United
States and Japan
Then, take into consideration the
4 Continued "A Paoe Ttno-