The Washington herald., 1921-05-26
President Directed to Call
Conference With
Powers.
WINS BY STRONG
VOTE OF IA TO O
Measure Goes to House
With Belief of Early
Adoption.


the senate yesterday adopted the
Borah disarmament amendment to
the s5oo.Ooo. 900 naval appropriation
bill. The amendment calls upon the
President to call a conference of the
United States, Great Britain and
Japan. the three chief naval powers,
for the purpose of negotiating an
agreement to reduce their naval
building program.
The language Of the amendment
provides:
That the President is authorized
and requested to invite the govern
ments of Great Britain and Japan
to send representatives to a con-
ference which shall be charged with
the duty of promptly entering into
an understanding or agreement by
which the naval expenditures and
building programs of each of said
governments, to wit, the United
States, Great Britain and Japan.
shall be substantially reduced an
nually during the next five years to
such an extent and upon such
terms as may be agreed upon, which
understanding or agreement is to
be reported to the respective gov
ernments for approval"
Favored In House.
The amendment. of course. re-
quires the concurrence of the house
to become effective, but in view
of the overwhelming nature of the
senate vote. il is highly improbable
that any hitch will develop over
the inclusion of the proposal in the
naval bill. The intentions of the
administration with regard to the
measure have not yet been officially
revealed but the belief prevails at
the capital that President Harding
will issue a call for the suggested
conference at an early date.
House leaders have repeatedly as
sured disarmament advocates that
the administration would endeavor
by every means to bring about a
general curtailment of armament
expense through international
agreement. The lop-sided character
of yesterdays vote stood out in
striking contrast to the situation
as il appeared two weeks ago.
When the disarmament proposals
were brought before the house they
were quickly tossed into the discard
through administration opposition.
Opposition DissoIves.
The senate naval committee voted
down the Borah plan after Senator
Poindexter Of Washington. acting
chairman. had repoNed that Presi-
dent Harding wanted a free hand
IN the conduct of international
negotiations Senator Borah prompt
" declared that he would force
the senate to toe the mark on the
disarmament question and a few
days later word was conveyed to
the senate by President Harding
that he had no objection to the
amendment. The opposition dis
solved Immediately and not a vote
could be found on the mo" side Of
the roll-call.
A hnaI vote on the entire bill
probably will be reached today. Be
cause of the fact that 1t carries
nearly 500. 900. 900 more than the
house measure. indications are that
n will be tied up for some time in
conference before it goes to the
President.
The debate yesterday was en-
livened by charges by Senator King.
Of Utah. that the machinery of the
|new oil-burning super-dreadnaught
Tennessee, was fundamentally de-
fective Senator King declared that
proof OF this had been furnished by
the speed trials to which the vessel
was recently subjected. It had
failed to come up to specifications.
he declared
All Built Alike.
The alarming feature of this dis
covery. he said. was the fact that
all the new super-dreadnaughts now
building or authorized, were to be
equipped with the same type of ma
chinery as the Tennessee. "If the
Tennessee was failure" he con-
tended. the whole program of capi-
tai ships would be useless" He
urged the adoption of a provision
forbidding the payment of money
to the contractors of the vessels
until they were pronounced thor
oughly satisfactory by the naval ex-
per-s.
Evidence of logrolling made its
appearance yesterday in connection
with the vote Tuesday by which
the. regulars succeeded in carrying
the amendment for an enlisted
strength of 120. 900 men for the navy.
II was noted that all but 10 demo-
Gratis voted with the regular repub-
Hcans- In explanation of this. ID
was reported yesterday that the ap-
preparation for the Charlotte. S. c.,
navy yard knocked out the bill sew
eral days ago over the vehement
protests of the southern democrats.
might be restored to the bill today.
Harding Studies Plan.
Refreshed by his four-day sea trip
to New York and return. President
Harding plunged into the midst Of
accumulated correspondence shortly
after his arrival here yesterday
morning.
The President devoted most of the
day to the study of legislation near
ing enactment by congress. and to
the answering of important letters.
The navy bill, pending in the SEN
ate. is understood to have drawn
the particular attention of the Pres
ident. The amendment authorizing
the President Sin his discretion u
approach the governments of Great
Britain and Japan on the subject of
disarmament was carefully reviewed
by the Executive.
II was learned that this important
question Is to be presented for con-
<sderstion Of the cabinet tomorrow.