New-York tribune., 1922-04-07
Harding to Get
Power to Scrap
ExcessW arships
Initial Move Made i'll Con.
aress to Meet Provisions
of 5.Power Naval Treaty;
House to Approve Pact
Halt on New Building
Measure Calls for Reduction
Of Enlisted Strength and
Commissioned Personnel
~. Trsbures Washington Bureau

.. IN. T-{bure's Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON. April s.-Chairman
p,,,er of the House Naval Affairs
Committee made to-day the initial
move toward providing the legislation
s..a,v "a carry out the battleship
.e~.nn;nr provisions Of the five-power
r.vsj treaty and put the navy on the
r,.ce.tine basis called Tor unoer the
4 ra.io He took this step when
nc introduced the so-called ON n'ous
rsv.i hill" which was automatically .
referred back to his committee 1or IA
vorable report.
An imno1tant feature OF the measure
- found in its first paragraph, "nicn
IS An entirely new provision: gIsntins
d,rcet authority TO President HarolnS
tn dianose of the excess sighting ton
nase and containing clearly iuPneo
ratification by the lower body OF the
international naval agreement ms
approval by the House, as well as the
senate which has already acted. of the
ratio pact was suggested, 1t WAS Of
fciaIly stated. by several branches OF
the government. including the Navy
and State departments.
To Insure Validity Of Act
II is pointed out that the scrspping
involves, theoretically at least, the GOV
eminent revenue ori ginating, agency
and therefore in order TO absolutely y
secure it's validity the House should
act. The new provision says:
"That for the purpose of giving ef-
feet 10 the provisions in the treaty to
limit naval armament, concluded Feb
ruary s. 1929, by the United States OF
he pr,ftch Ep,p;ro
France, Italy and Japan. respecting the
abandonment of ship building programs
and the scrapping of capital ships in
States may retain in conformity with
the said provisions, the President of
the United States be. and he is hereby
authorized to make such disposition as
in his judgment may be proper of any
capital ship of the navy built or build
ing and to cause to be taken such &C
ton as is necessary for the scrappina
OF capital ships to be dealt with in
said provisions
To Cancel Battleship Contracts
second feature of the omnibus bill
provides for cancellation or modifica-
ton by the President OF contracts fo1
the seven frst-class battleships and the
six battle cruisers already authorized
Authority for the conversion of two
Of the battle cruisers now building into
arplane carriers is also provided. 1t is
specified that those farthest advanced
in construction or most economical tc
convert shall be selected
The measure would reduce the au-
thorized enlisted strength of the navy
from 1871 ,4s5, plus 5000 apprentice sea.
men, to $4,000, plus 5000 apprentices
Section would cut the commissioned
personnel on July l, 1924, from 5,o5l
to 3,440
Still another feature of the bill pro
yides the legislation and method fo,
cutting down expenses at the United
States Naval Academy and shrinking
the midshipmen classes TO meet the
needs OF the new navy. The number
o. midshipmen to be missioned ID
en,lsns is restricted beginning with
1929 to 200 a year.
President Harding to-day lent a sym.
pathetic ear to the navy's side in re.
gard to the reduction of personnel, anc
after conference assured Secretary
OF the Navy DENLY and Assistant Sec
retaIry of the Navy Roosevelt that be
would try to secure navy of $4,000
men. A few days ago the President
listened while representatives. Kelly
and Madden told why they thought the
navy personnel should be reduced te
oo,V0U IN the interests of economy