The New York herald., 1921-12-01
RANKS AS SECOND NAVAL POWER


~ parison with the American
sara strength, including ships under
rouss .tion and the percentage Of
tpeir c mpletion.
rkie ates OF the leading Powers be-
y ~ t-ince Tokugawa and Nice-Ad-
.nilcal llato. who is not 4 delegate,
sAAv fGhting 1t out over the cable be-
swseen Washington and Toxic" and
Rat lie decision win be rendered at
fae uanese capital.
The suggestion advanced in Euro
pean quarters that Japan is really
5olding back her agreement to the
Hughes formula until a satisfactory
deal can be made for the disarmament
al Pacific islands is not substantiated
ey officials of the Government. Japan
did not even propose such an arrange
snent at the meeting Of the Far East
committee, which to-day made sub
stantial progress in clearing up some
Of the perplexities covering that part
of the world.
The most important of Far Eastern
developments reflected the sympa-
fhetic desire of Japan to help un-
OF II the delegates of China and Japan
tomorrow will meet with Secretary
Hughes and Mr. Balfour and attempt
70 negotiate directly for the return to
China of the Kaiochau district OF the
rich Shantung peninsula. which Japan
sVrested from Germany in the early
days of the world war.
The pessimistically inclined seized
upon the insistence OF Japanese that
Their substitute for the Hughes for
snuia be accepted as an opportunity to
launch the most gloomy predictions
Hs to the result OF all conference un-
dertallings. Gentlemen who hero
'cally struggled to convince them
vanced many entertaining but few
substantial reasons for justifying their
opinion in this respect.
They argued the Japanese delegates
have been placed in an extremely dis
agreeable situation by the arbitrary
demands of their naval experts that
1he Hughes formula be abandoned in
order to preserve desirable units in
the imperial navy. Reports from
Toxic describing mass meetings in
various parts of the country arranged
TO voice the public protest against the
Hughes plan We're held to he largely
responsible for the delay of the Japa-
nese delegates in coming around TO
the American and British point of
View
Other experts of international psy-
chology enumerated the lack of har-
snony and cooperation between Great
Britain and France and France and
Italy over some parts of the confer
ence programme as contributing to-
ward the breaking down" OF the con-
ference.
( Another interesting theory emanat-
fng from European sources was that
The injection Of the annual conference
,dea into the present situation by
American officials had alarmed some
of the foreign Governments and made
them doubtful as to the satisfactory
results over pending ventures
Hostile Propagandists busy.
Hostile propagandists infamed By
spread the impression that the dele
gates of the leading national groups
had reached an impasse in the negotia-
tions over the limitation Of armaments
that would render the solution OF Far
Eastern problems impossible. These
pessimistic views We're completely et
Variance with the public statements or
American, British, Japanese and Ital-
3sn delegates. Spokesman for France,
presumably awaiting direct instruc-
lions from M. BRAND regarding the
course OF that country in the vital
snatter of land arnlaments. did not
participate in discussions regarding g
rhc final outcome of the conference
ono way or the other. The Frencn
attitude was in striking contrast to the
optimistic views expressed by the other
delegations mentioned, and naturally
was interpreted TO mean that NJ.
Niyiani and his associates are inclined
10 hold a sceptical view of the final
results.
II the American and British dele
gates really entertained any question
as TO the prospect for reaching salts
factory agreements the fact was not
manifest in anything they said or did.
On tho contrary. every statement by
fhe American, British and Japanense
delegates reflected o manifestly sincere
belief that the controversy over the
ronhicting processes for determining
rhe ratio OF capital ship arrnaments
would be worked out without serious
r5isarranSement Of the conference ma
chincry. The utmost sincerity was
recorded to the Japanese naval experts
sor striving to impose their own plans
Cor deciding such ratios and which
would naturally give 10 them wholly
nosirable national advantages.
In making known the decision of
s5reat Britain and the United States
20 stand by the Hughes formula as
being the fairest, most sensible and
OermanentIy satisfscto the naval
axperts Of the two countries hailed
the Japanese attitude as opening the
way for possible expansion Of pro-
erarnlcs which would be less agree
able TO the Japanese naval experts
shan that incorporated In the Hughes
formula.
Alternative Pointed out.
IN other words, the professional