The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-12-01
NAVAL SOLUTION HANGS ON PRESENT
 JAPANESE RATIO
tContinued from Page one )

toucneu upon any other point in- volved in the American plan of linn itation. All such items as the 1O- year holiday, submarines, proportion. al allotments of tonnage in auxil- iary craft of the various kinds, and the like, were deferred until the cap ital ship ratio problem was solved. The conference of limitation of arm aments still stands tonight, so far as It's major objective, the naval agree ment. goes, at that point.
 In Japanese circles urgent pleas
 to support the Japanese claim for
 70 per cent ratio were put for
 ward, but they were based ale
 most wholly on questions of na-
 tonaI security. and not upon
 claims as to present strength of
 the two navies. The only com
 pilation of figures presented to
 support the 70 per cent estimate
 was that already authoritatfvely
 rejected by the American deIe-
 gation. exclusion of aII ships un-
 der construction from the .caIcu.
 lation and inclusion by Japan of
 predreadnRughts more than 20
 years old.
 British In Accord
 While there was no vote taken to- day In the subcommittee of experts, the British and American groups were in full accord that the Japa- nese proposal was not sound. and that it constituted a question of pol icy, not of fact It was this situa- ton that ended the experts delibera- tions. for they were charged only with examination of facts, not with the shaping of policies. The delega tions alone may formulate these, and the matter went back to them.
 For the American delegation the situation was described authorita- lively as an agreement of the experts as to points of difference. These include minor questions relating to percentage of completion of ships un- der construction. whether battleships over 20 years old can be included in estimates of strength of modern na- vies and similar points. All of these, in the American view, are minor, because they are questions of fact and can be resolved beyond disagree- ment.
 The major point of difference, however. the Japanese proposal to disregard ships under con- struction in calculating naval strength, Is viewed as a matter of policy nnd n suggestion that Is not open to debate so far as the United States is concerned. Neither the American government nor the American people will con- sent, was stated authoritativeIy,
 to scrap 15 capital ships averaging 50 per cent complete, and upon
 which more than $330, ,OOO .OOO has been paid out as the equivalent of Japan's four new ships to he scrnppcd. The enormous sacrifice the United states government has offered to make. it was stated. officially, must be reflected fin the fleet ratio to be established with Japan. There was said to l be no room for argument on that point.
 On every other possible basis o1 calculation considered by the experts t, Japan could show not even the SC per cent ratio proposed flor her ir the American plan. The application of the capital ship tonnage measure ment to fix the ratio itself Is a wide concession to Japan, it is said, Ii existing auxiliary craft were in- cluded in the computation on any basis from total naval tonnage to in clusion of any selected particular type of ships in addition to capita ships, she would have far less thar la 50 per cent ratio. The United States has an overwhelming preponderanct in all auxiliary craft. yet sought nc advantage in the agreement from that fact. 1t was said.
 l On the highest ratio Japan could be allowed by the figures presented that include ships under construc. tion. her ratio was 50 per cent, anc to reach that she would be permit ted 70 include two old pre-dread- naughts more than 20 years old while the United States would discard all ships of over 20 years old. Va rious tabulations were gone over by the experts, and in every case Japan's ratio fell below 60 per cent. To meet this condition the Japanese put for ward their suggestion that only shipt afloat be counted in estimatine naval strength since in that wa, alone their estimate of 70 per cent could be attained. Both American and British experts baked at this and a final recasting of the tabula- tions by the Japanese. presented to- day, added nothing to the situation ai | 1t had already shaped itself. 50 ths subcommittee quit to await instruc' tions from the delegates. The head of each expert group % reported te the chief of his delegation.
 Admiral Baron Kato. active leader of the Japanese delegation. refused tonight to- throw any light on what his group planned to do. In view o, the authoritative statement from