The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-12-18
A Timely Editorial
WHY FRANCE DELAYS

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 Though it is year since the Washington conference was held, the French parliament has not yet acted upon the agreement to limit the number of battleships. This de- lay causes apprehension in London and irritation in Washington. The ships so far scrapped by the Amer ican and British navies have been of the nearly obsolete types that would have been doomed anyway. Secretary Denby has announced that until the treaty is ratified by all the powers no more American ships will be destroyed, and the British conservative press flatly calls the whole conference a fail ure and demands that the construc- tion of more modern battle cruisers be resumed at once. Is it possible that the whole idea of limiting na- val armaments, which aroused so much hope, was nothing else than an illusion?
 It is proper for Americans who are impatient to consider the French point of view. Why should the French ratify the Washington treaty? To please the United States? Did the United States rat ify the Versailles treaty, which means more to France than the Washington agreement means to America? In world politics, as well as in personal relations, one may expect to be dealt with as one deals. To please Great Britain? What is the hurry? Wait and see what sup port Great Britain will give France in collecting reparations from Ger many. France is just as anxious to have its Rhine frontier safe as Great Britain is to avoid ruinous naval competition with the United States. Until France knows who her friends are going to be, what nations will be willing to stand by her in the future, why should she accept inferior strength at sea?
 Furthermore, with the arrange ment by which Great Britain and the United States were to have equal strength, France the same as Italy, but less than Japan, the French feel far from satisfied. The American -British-Japanese ratio was fixed before France was consulted and at the behest of Great Britain the rating of France was based on actual strength, although it was well known that during the war France, in agreement with Great Britain, desisted from building ships in order to devote all her energies to land forces. But since Italy demanded equal strength with France, the British could not allow these two European powers to have com bined navy equal to theirs. The inn portance of this view has recently been enhanced by the announcement of the Russians that, since they were not invited to the Washington con ference, they are not bound by it's results and therefore feel free to build as large navy as they choose. Russia may be weak today, but she is not a negligible entity for tomorrow. If she fails at Lausanne to have warships kept out of the straits and the Black sea, she is all the more likely to rebuild her navy, which may upset all calculations throughout the world.
 The equality with Italy the French feel to be particularly un- just, since they have both an Allan tic and Mediterranean shore to defend, while Italy can concentrate in the latter sea. With the Straits of Gibraltar in British hands, the French battle fleet must remain cut in two. Moreover, the French have a colonial empire almost as wide flung as the British. If war should break out again, it would be par ticularly important for them to keep open the communication with north ern Africa. Suppose, then, that . Italy. with an equal fleet. were on the side of the enemy; what then?
 No wonder that the French hesi- tate about tying their hands at sea until they get something in return. Their principal concern, however, is the aloofness of the United States.