The Washington herald., 1922-01-04
FEAR ARMED CRAFT
French Will Ask Clear
Definition of Naval
Auxiliaries.
ITALY AND JAPAN
AWAIT ORDERS
Chinese Resent Delay of
Tokyo on Shantung a,
Question. .i.


ro1
Extremely sharp differences srs
opinion and strong evidences"
friction are developing IN the, alasr,,
ing days of the armament Conff.t=a
ence. They are not expected tsi dssdi
rupt the gathering. but they ale
having the effect Of centering intsr-f
est on matters that heretofore lvorE
supposed to be OF a minor charscterf
Circulation Of the allegations os'
behalf Of the Chita government
that Japan and France had aEFseds
TO a free hand for Japan in siberia.
while emphaIically denied a6y' sths
two powers concerned, has bees
seized upon to emphasize the differ
ences between Japan and Ch-1la6Ve-.
ShantunE. Incidentally. ca finest,
sources have declared that they, Mn
bring the Chita charges bcfQgS tihr
conference il afforded OpportuRtJg
so TO do. --..r
French Denial Accepted. .sB.ro
That the State Department nv.
cepts the denial OF the French EoNS
ernment OF the Chita charges $.-ss
shown in a letter sent by Secretary
Hughes to NJ Sarraut. chairman ~
the French conference delcgatishi
and made public last night -
The French delegation last nigFt
received complete instructions frortr
Paris as to the attitude to b.
adopted Cn the Root resolutions
creating new principles OF inteTna-
tional law TO govern the use Of sub
marines. The instructions are un-
derstood to direct the delegation 10
indorse the general principles ~
| the Root proposals in so far as they
/ would be designed TO prevent ruta-
I less submarine warfare. HoWeN,-
I the French are very anxious T. have
| carefully defined exactly what con-
I sJitutes a merchant vessel. if u is
/ to be agreed that merchant vessels
are not to be attaCk ked by subma-
rines unless their crews and pa.
/ sengers can be shifted to a place Of
4 safety.
Question Auxiliary ships.
The FrenCh have been impressed
with the declaration OF the British
delegation that Il the submarine D.
to continue as a factor in warfarc
then the British will arm all Of iis
merchant feet to the teeth. The
majority OF the British merchant
vessels are auxiliary cruisers, and
tEeir tonnage far exceeds thar
2 q
1 craft in the future. 10000 tons. wRh
a limit Of S-inch rifles Tor arna-
ment.
| France wants to know whether
the Root agreement would masr
vessels OF this sort. which in The
French view are pure and simple
war craft. immune from submarine
attack. II Mr.. Root and the British
delegation say that this is SO. then
naturally the French will enter
strict objection. and are cXpectca
to be upheld by Italy and Japan.
Delays Naval Committee.
Secretary of State Hughes said
last night that il was very unlikely
that the naval committee would b"
able to hold another meeting earlier
than Thursday. il then. The Italian
and japanese delegations s,iU n.
to hear from their home govern
ments regarding the attitude 60 be-
assumed toward the two pendinE
Rect amendments to existing inter
national law as affecting submarine
operations 1t is reported. unofii-
cially. that neither Italy nor japan
will approve the Root suggestion
that ruthless submarine warfare he
characterized as piracy ana punish
able as such. They also ar, re
ported as none too faNnrabIy nm
pressed with the suggestion tina;
hereafter the nations OF the world
Will cgree that submarines are nat
to he used as commerce dsstroyers.
Meanwhile the naval CON mittee
has practically completed the Je-
tails Of the work assigned to Il.
This includes agreement upon
standard Of marine measurement
and the like.
Drafting Treaty Terms.
The committee on draft also is
working Of the terms OF the trcatys
which will he tile vehicle thr, urh
which the naval agree ncn' SEaIl
become operative IL is hoped that
they will have all this ~ shape 20
that. as soon as t." pending suba'a-
rine questions a." disposed OF. =
plenary session % the confer su,s
lean he called at which the treaty
and the complete text Of the naval
agreement can oc made public.
Meanwhile tho Chinese dele ga
tion is becoming extremely rcstive
over the failure TO reach an agree
ment on ShantunE. Minister Szr
: waNed sarcastic last night in dis
cussing tho question. lie called At
tcntion to the fact that on DcCcm-
bcr l6 the japanese delegation ask
ed for time in which to consult their
home government At that time the
z ShantunE negotiations had reached
a deadlock through the insistence of
/ the Japanese delegation that they
/ be permitted to retain at least TIE
operating control Of the Shantuns
Railway.
StiN Waiting for Tokyo.
! Since then the japanese have In
sisted they were waiting on Tokyo.
! As late as last night Admiral Baron
Kato insisted that the instructions
: they have are incomplete and that
. they have asked for amplification
of them without result.
When this was communicated 20
Minister SEE he said:
I'VE are able 20 communicate with
! our government in Pekin In twenty
four hours. II seems very strange
TO me that q should tak the lap