The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-11-13

which may be seemed pertinent to this subject
 The first is that the core of the difficulty is to be found in the com petition in naval programmes, and that in order appropriately to limit naval armament. competition in It's production must be abandoned Com petition will not be remedied by re- solves with respect to the method of it's continuance. One programme fn evitable leads to another and i'm com
 petition continues it's regulation Is impractihale. There is only one ade- quate way. and that Is to end 1t now.
 Serious sacrifices
 Tt is apparent that this cannot be accomplished without serious ..acri- fices. Enormous sums have been sX- pended upon ships under construc ion and building programmes which are
 now under way cannot be given up
 without heavy loss. Yet If the pres ent construction of capital ships goes fe ward, other ships will inevitably
 be built to rival them, and this will
 lead to still others. Thus the race
 continue last in the effort to escape sacrifices is futile. We must face
 them or yield our purpose. Tt Is also clear that no one of the
 naval powers should be expected to
 make the sacrifices alone. The only hope of limitation of naval armament Is by agreement among the nations concerned. and this agreement should
 be entirely fair and reasonable in the extent off the sacrifices required pf
 each of the powers. IRNconsideriAg
 the basis of such agreement, and the commensurate sacrifices to be re- quired. 1t is necessary to have regard l to the existing naval strength of the great naval powers,s including the ex- tent of construction already effected in the case of ships in process This follows from the fact that one nation is as free to compete as another, and
 each may find ground for it's action. What one may do another may de-
 mand the opportunity to rival, and
 we remain in the thrall of competitive i effort.
 l T may add that the American dele
 gates are advised by their naval ex l perts that the tonnage of capital
 ships may fairly be taken to measure
 the relative strength of navies, as the | the provision for auxiliary combatant craft should sustain reasonable re- lation to the capital ship tonnage all lowed.
 Tt would also seem to be vital part of the plan for the limitation of naval armament that there should be naval holiday. It Is proposed that for a period of not less than 10 years there should be no further con struction of capital ships.
 T am happy to say that I am at | liberty to go beyond these several propositions and on behalf of the 1 American delegation, acting under the 1 instructions of the President of the United States, to submit to you a con- crete proposition for an agreement for the limitation of naval armament. Ut should be added that this pro- posal immediately concerns the Brit ish empire. Japan and the United States. In view of the extraordinary conditions due to the World war af- fectlng the existing strength of the l navies of France and Italy, 1t is not
 thought to be necessary to discuss at
 this stage of the proceedings the'ton-
 age allowance of these nations hut ! the United States proposes that this 1, matter be reserved for the later con 1 sideration of the conference.
 Tn making the present proposal.
 the United States Is most solicitous
 to deal with the question upon an entirely reasonable and practicable basis to the end that the just in- | teTeSlS Ol all Sndil Dt ddtAhdtCAS l guarded, and the national security and defense shall be maintained. Four general principles have been applied: "1. That all capital shipbuilding programmes, either actual or proj- ected, should be abandoned
 "2. That further reduction should be made through the scrapping of
 certain of the older ships.
 "3 That. in general, regard should be had to the existing naval strength
 of the powers concerned.
 "4. That the capital ship tonnage
 should be used as the measurement
 of strength for navies and propor- donate allowance of auxiliary com
 batant craft prescribed.
 "The principal features of the pro- posed agreement are as follows; United States The United States is now complet- ing It's programme of 1916, calling for 10 new battleships and six battle- cruisers. One battleship has been completed. The others are in various stages of constructions; in some cases from 60 to 80 per cent of the com struction has been done. Of these 15 capital ships now being built over s330,O00, 900 have been spent Still
 the United States is willing in the in- terest of immediate limitation of naval armaments to scrap all these ships.
 "The United States proposes. If this plan is accepted:
 "l. To scrap all capital ships now under construction. This includes
 six battle cruisers and seven lbattle- ships on the ways and in the~course of building. and two battleships launched.
 "The total number of capital ships when completed would be 6iS,Ooo tons
 "2. To scrap all of the older bat tleships up to. but not including the Delaware and North Dakota. The number of these old battleships to be scrapped is 15. Their total tonnage is 227.740 tons
 Thus the number of capital ships to be scrapped by the United states if this plan is accepted. Is 50, wltn an aggregate tonnage Qncluding that of ships in construction, if completely Dor S45,74o tons.
 Great Britain
 The plan contemplates that Great Britain and Japan shall take action which is fairly commensurate with | this action on the part of the United States
 1 'It Is proposed that Great Britain; "1. Shall stop further construction of the four new Hoods, the new capi- | tai ships not laid down but upon 1 which monev has been spent. The