Pueblo chieftain., 1921-04-09
WOMEN AND DISARMAMENT

committee wants to have President
Harding and Congress take steps 10
caii conference of the powers to dis
cuss practical means Of disarmament
This many statesmen would demand
as the step to he taken before we cut
down the naval building program. Tho
hearings on disarmament before the
HOUSE Naval committee in January
strongly indicated this attitude Gen
eral Bliss. Secretary Daniels, General
Pcrshlns, and others who teatifed
spoke in favor of an international con-
ference to consider some degree Of dis
armament, but pending such confer
encc. they favored Il continuance of
shipbuildiny.
So far as naval programs are con-
cerned, only England, Japan and tho
United States would need to confer.
for they are the only naval powers
now. But AZ other nations would feel
sighted II left out of the deliberations.
ii is probable that a conference would
include them also.
Roth Japan and England have sug-
gested that they would welcome a
chance to limit naval progrcss. jap
| anese statesmen have expressed a de-
| sire to see their navy reduced to a
minimum that would stili enable Japan
4 to protect her coasts. AS far back
| 1919. England asked for an agreement
| tosreduce naval expenditures. but Ger
many. then "A naval power. would not
consider it. When Sir Philip Gibbs was
asked his opinion as to Epgiand's pre-
| sent vicw on accepting an invitation to
disarmament conference, he said that
] England is divided into factions re-
carding disarmament, but there ia
no doubt that the great mass OF tho
| English people would bring pressurs
on tho government to accept such
decision. and the entire strength of the
labor and liberal parties in England
would be broughe in on that side"
Tho objection to conference and
agreement is that there is the danger
of one conferee not playing fair. II
| is still remembered how Napoleon at
Jena limited Prussia to an army OF
1900 men, and how the Frussiars kept
| TO the letter of the demand The joker
was that the Prussiaus enlisted +:.ooo
men at a time and trained them quick
~ and intensively. and then discharged
them to enlist another quota, so that
| when Napoleon next met the Prussia ms
| in battle a huge, well prepared army
rose UP to the attack.
That this sort OF thing could occur
again no ono will deny, tho IL would
perhaps be hard to build navy 70
secret The committee also counters
by saying that nations. like individ-
| uals, must trust others somettmes-
At present. the pro-disArmament fac
ton maintains. we are the nation which
Is attracting most attention by war
preparations. and therefore We can
aud ought to show that VIC have no
aggressive intentions by taking the
lead in suggesting a conference. We
arc, moreover. the nation which can
most safely start the vicious spiral
curving downward. because. being SC;
more or less apart. We have less fear
OF invasion than the crowded Euro
pcans.
These arc the two courses ahead OF
us: one. to 20 IL alone. trusting no
other country and building ships as
fast as We can to keep any other ma
ton from building faster: the other.
TO get tho powers together and see
whether practical scheme can be
devised to safeguard the nations who
arc willing to lessen their arnlA ments.
The women's committee calls itself
group OF opportunists and insists that
nav Is the psychological time for =
conference because the people who pay
tho bills want II, because militArisrn
is plunSing them into national hank
ruptcy. and because \ conference IL
"A reasonable proceeding. such as any
business would hold in the event IL
was swamped by overhead e1pAnscS.