The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-01-28
FRENCH PIQUE
Continued from Page One)

AOO1lthHSu iIOlI dSS oASJ
lions of the world she was a very
weak fourth. The gap between her
strength and that of any of the other
three was so great that she was in a
class apart.
Mentions Only Three
Under these circumstances it was
natural that Hughes, when he began to
deal in terms of naval armament, men
toned only the three great naval pow
: ers and ignored France In this France
had reason enough for wounded feel
lings. She felt that it was only the
extent of her eXertions on land during
the war that had put her in d position
SO inferior, and she may we'll have
felt a sense of injustice ut being treat
! ed as an inferior.
Further than this, the fact that Mr.
| Hughes and the others. treated naval
armament, especially as regards cap
| ital ship tonnage, as being so much
a concern of Great Britain, Japan and
( the United States alone, caused it TO
/ happen that during the first week or
/ ten days of the conference Mr.. Hughes
saw great deal OF MI. BalfOur and
( Baron Kato, but saw very little of Bri-
and, or any of the other French.
| Hughes was concerned with the ma
! val ratio and the naval ratio chiefly
concerned the three nations, excluding
| France.
! After the first few DAYS Of the con
ference, the subject that was next
/ taken up was the getting rid of the
Anglo-Japanese alliance, and the sub
shutting for it of an alliance includ-
| ing the United States.
Same Thing Happens
/ Here again the same thing happen
ed. France had not been in the Anglo
: Japanese alliance and in the discus
sions in this field, France was again
relatively out of the picture. Obvious
ly and necessarily the three nations
concerned were Great Britain. Japan
and the United States, and it was with
the delegates from Great Britain and
Japan that Mr.. Hughes was holding
the bulk of his conference
As a result of all of this it would
not be surprising if BRAND and the
French felt themselves ignored. One
day BRAND was absent from his hote
for a few hours When he returned
the rather excited reporters wanted
TO know if he had been having a Sc
cret conference with Hughes, but il
was learned that his absence had beer
due to nothing more important thar
a visit to the movies.
There were in the newspapers a.
the time many illusions to various
aspects of this fact that all the i'm
pOrtant business of the conference
seemed to be done among Hughes. Bal
four. and Baron Kato, and that the
French were more or less out of it.
Cause Pique
Such were the superficial and per
sOnal things that might readily have
caused the French delegates to have
a feeling of pique. This was the more
true in as much as one or two Of the
French delegates seemed to be the
sort of men who are most quick t.
take account Of anything they deemed
to be a slight to themselves, or Il
their country.
More fundamental and more seriou:
were the public crisis that arose owe
the French attitude about their nava
ratio. The clear fact at this momen
Is that France on the sea is a SECOND
rate power. There is no escaping thi
fact; it is incontestable. It is a mai
ter of figures.
But there Is a difference between
France admitting that for the presen
. due to conditions arising out Of tn,
war-conditions which she hopes ar
temporary. she is second class nava
power. and, on the other hand. admit
. ting that she is to be formally class