The New York herald., 1921-08-19
FRIDAY. AUGUST 10, 1921.
Reduction, Not Disarmament.

Reduction, Not Disarmament.
The appointment of Senator LODGE
to the second place in the list OF
American representatives at the in
ternational conference in November
is as proper and fitting and as well
come to national sentiment as was
the appointment of Secretary HUGHES
to the commission.
Not merely does President HAR-
DING's choice of Mr.. LODGE, from the
Senate, repudiate and as far as is
now possible rectify the fundamental
mistake which President WILSON
made in constituting the commission
that went with him to Paris. 1t en-
courages American confidence in the
maintenance of that principle of dis
armament which, in the view Of this
newspaper, is the only sound princi-
pie and safe course in dealing with
the supremely important question.
We deplore growing tendency in
some quarters to regard the coming
conference as if it was to be COM
petitive exhibition of precipitancy
and unselfishness in the obliteration
of existing defensive establishments.
To some minds it seems almost as IL
II was the duty Of the United States,
for the good of the world and in the
interests of peace, to set noble ex-
ample to all the other great Powers
by scrapping our navy forthwith, by
abandoning further development of
aerial weapons, and by reducing our
army to the dimensions of a sheriff's
posse; and then to stand forth naked
to attack, panoplied only with the
consciousness OF shining virtue and
with faith in the good intentions OF
the rest of mankind.
II is misnomer to style the COM
ing conference disarmament" con-
ference. There can be no such thing
as disarmament while human nature
and national interests remain what
they are at present. There can be,
and should be, profitable discussion
of cooperative measures among the
several nations concerned, OF volun-
tary and concerted action for the
considerable reduction OF armaments
and the consequent relief OF the eco
nomic overstrain, all around, which
full military preparation for every
contingency involves.
There can be no Limitation" Of
armaments in the sense OF restraint
put upon national preparedness by a
superior, supernatural. supergovern.
mental organization. That dream
faded with the visions on the horizon
and the voices in the air. What there
can be and should be is mutual agree.
ment for the tightening OF the bur.
dens OF progressive overarmament;
voluntary and concerted action for
reduction.
But this must proceed pdri pdssu
or IL will not proceed at all; and. as
THE New YORK HERALD has again and
again pointed out, the reduction must
not only be general but it must be
rroportionate. That is 10 say. no
arbitrary limit can be equally appli-
cable to two or more Powers widely
differing as to their geographical po-
sition and their governmental re-
sponsibilities. In the matter OF the
balance OF sea power, for example, the
principle upon which America can
safely acquiesce was stated in this
column months ago, using tho case
OF the United States and Japan as
an illustration:
"The crux Of the matter lies in no
proper balance or strength between
cur navy and that OF Japan rather
than in their actual strength. And
this balance OF strength must be de-
termined by the relative vulnerable
fly OF the two countries with their
colonial dependencies and by the value
and extent OF the commerce or each.
Japan In her comparatively compact
pogtlon Is much more favorably sltu-