Evening star., 1922-01-04
Agreement Details
Be Laid Before
Full Committee.
FRENCH TO REVEAL
SUBMARINE STAND
Ready to Accept Root Pro-
posal, But Will Make
Reservations.
ny G. GOULD LINCOLN.

So
DEVELOPMENTS of the Washington
conference on limitation of armament
today appear to be:
Settlement of the Chinese tarln
question by the Underwood subcom-
mittee, so that China will have an
effective per cent duty almost hi'-
mediately. An international commls-
sion is to be sent to China to stuoy
the situation, with the understanding
that an additional 21s per cent may
be allowed in the near future
Settlement by the committee Oh
naval experts of the questions re-
lating to replacement of the capltai
ships. the methods of scrapplns ships'
the standard of measurement tor 'oii-
mage of naval ships. The detalis VI
these agreements will be laid before
The next meeting of the full COM
mittee on limitation of armament.
French Ready to Reply.
II was reported early today that a
meeting of the full committee mish'
he called for this afternoon OF tomor-
row in view of the fact that the
French delegation is ready to an
nounce the stand of the Paris govern
ment on the Root proposal that SUD-
marines shall not be used as COM
merce destroyers, and in view OF the
reports which the committee OF naval
experts are ready to submit. Wnether
such a meeting is held today, how
ever, will depend, it was said. upon
whether Japan and Italy are ready
TO go ahead with the consideration of
the Root submarine proposal.
France is ready to accept the Root
proposal debarring submarines from
the destruction of commerce in time
of wal and also the Root proposal
that any submarine commander at
tacking commerce shall be treated as
a pirate. France will have some reser-
yations to propose, it was said. Their
nature has not been announced.
Suggestion has been made that these
reservations will provide that merchant
vessels shall not be armed. This woua
come into conflict with the British decl-
sion, however, that they be allowed to
make whatever provisions for defense
against submarines, as long as the un-
restricted building of submarines con-
tinueS.
A spokesman for the British said to-
day that he doubted the French would
put forward such a reservation. or that
they would attempt any bargaining of
that kind in their agreement to the Root
submarine proposals.
With regard to the 10.000-ton limita-
ton to be put on the size Of the
auxiliary naval craft, it was said today
that France was expected to agree to
this, and as the other four powers have
already accepted the limitation. it would
become part of the naval limitation
agreement.
Consideration Is Amicable.
After the meeting of the naval ex-
perts committee today it was said
that the consideration OF the matters
left to the experts had proceeded very
amicably. Nothing was said. how
ever, to indicate whether the French
proposal to begin laying down her
capital ships earlier than originally
Nothing in the plan for scrapping
naval vessels, it was said, would pre-
vent the use of the hulls of battle-
ships for passenger vessels, provided
of them. 1t will not be possible under
the plan for scrapping to sell these
vessels to other nations, it ia believed.
The Underwood subcommittee deal
ing with the Chinese tariff met again
today to take final action, it was ex-
pected. on the agreement with re-
gard to the matter in hand. Its find
ings will be reported to the full COM
mittee on the far east when that
committee meets again.
Chinese Will Benefit.
uh. Cn;naeo will hapa6t cons;dar
ably by the increase in the revenues
they will receive from an effective S
per cent customs duty, it is said. They
have asked for tariff autonomy,
which. of course. they do not get
under the proposed agreement, but
Chinese tariffs have been fixed for
many years by treaties between China
and the other powers. 1t is estimated
that China will increase her revenues
by some $10,000.000 a year through
plan.
1t is understood that the French
will accept the effective 5 per cent
duty on the border as well as in it's
application on commerce entering
through the seaports, and that Japan
also has assented to this.
The necessity of getting a settlement
of the Shantung question before the
Washington conference concludes it's
labors is becoming more and more
manifest. To leave this matter un-
solved will be to leave a sore spot in
the far east that sooner or later will
mean trouble, it is said. Furthermore,
If nothing is done about Shantung,
then there Is likely to be the same
criticism of Japan in this country that
arose after the negotiation of the Ver-
sailles peace treaty, when the claims of
China were ignored and Japan was
given the former German holdings in
the province of Shantung.
Chinese Restive Over Delay.
1t is two weeks since the Japanese
and Chinese halted their conferences
on Shantung here. The Japanese
said at the time they had gone as
far as they could, and must consult
their home government. The Chi
nese have become restive over the
long delay on this matter. They have
urged Secretary Hughes and Mr.. Bal
to do something to speed up the con-
and also to, use their good Offices in
breaking the impasse which had
arisen at the time the negotiations
between the Japanese and Chinese
were broken off.
The Chinese delegates say it is
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