Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1922-01-10
WASHINGTON
CONCERNED IN
CANNES FARLEY
Submarine Contention May Be
Settled on Other Side
of Atlantic.
ARMS INTEREST KEEN
Special to Indiana Daily Times
and Philadelphia Public Ledger.

ana Philadelphia PUbllC ledger.
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.
WASHINGTON. Jan. 10.-Conference
leaders attention is riveted on Cannes
almost as interestedly as on eleventh
hour affairs in Washington. The eyes
of the Harding Administration and the
American delegation are turned in the
direction of the French riviera with par
ticular eagerness. They believe there is
strong probability the damage done at
Washington-French Knockout of the
submarine limitation prOgram-may be
entirely repaired by Developments at
Cannes.
In plain terms, the view prevails that
if France secures the protective bond
she desires from Great Britain, her
claims for 10000 tons of submarines au-
tomaticalIy win be abandoned. There are
persons in washington so confident such
an issue is impending that they hold
it possible the French formally may
scrap the program they so stubbornly
espoused here two weeks ago.
FRENCH FEEL
PRESTIGE loss
france is known to feel poignantly the
loss in prestige her frreconciliability on
submarines has caused her in the United
States The French have been called
histrionic race. Perhaps it may be posi-
BILE for NJ Sarraut, when the fve-power
naval treaty is publicly proclaimed at
this weeks expected plenary session, to
make the most dramatic announcement Of
the entire conference. He may tell the
world interesting developments in Eu-
rope no longer make it necessary for
France to withhold her assent to q mod
crate submarine quota.
Speculation on the above mentioned
score certainly dominates conference
thoughts at this hour. as men have had
time to diagnose the French attitude dur
ing the past fortnight, there has been an
inclination to view Frances tactics in a
somewhat kindlier light. The first effect
of them was disappointing In the ex-
IRENE Both President Harding and Sec
rotary Hughes were deeply and frankly
chagrined.
II. BRAND and NJ Viviani had both
left Washington in good humor With
the French delegatiOn's success in block
ing conference consideration Of land
armament limitation, France was regard
ed as having accomplished really all she
was interested in here.
PURPOSES IN ACQUIRING
SUBMARINE FLEET.
But It suddenly dawned on American
statesmen that France had both ma
terial and moral, as wen as politically
strategic reasons for requiring a subma-
rtne feet against the British navy. A
British capital ship feet overawing the
navy OF France in the ratio OF to I71a
could bottle up the French in case of a
war. It could not only blockade France
Itself, but also prevent the French from
securing supplies Of men, food and vital
raw materials like copper from their rich
colonies in Africa. France. on the other
hand. with a powerful submarine force,
could menace Great Britain precisely IS
the German U-bOats menaced her in the
world war
Now, all those considerations. both for
the French and the British would vanish
II there were new entente cordaiIe be-
tween them. An entente would not only
Danish the prospect Of an Anglo French
war to the realm Of the improbable. but
would automatically realize for France
her dream Of decentralization protection
in case Of conflict with Germany. For
such boon, as these dispatches pointed
out when the French naval storm was
raging in Washington, France could at
ford to pay almost anything The pro-
posed Hughes submarine program offered
her $4,000 tons Of submarines That was
about third of what she reGuisitiOned
'--Au SSODNA Jul 4bA. II the Times CON
ference brings the French & guarantee
that in case Of a fresh war Of aggression,
the British feet is ready to Lombard
Hamburg and Bremen and blockade the
coasts of Germany, France probably
would be prepared not only to renounce
5000 tons of submarines, but make the
British fleet a present OF them. It would
be the cheapest and most profitable bar
gain France ever drove
CANNES SESSION
INTEREST KEEN.
It is those considerations which di-
vert conference thoughts, as the hour
OF adjournment sine die approaches, to
she Lloyd George BRAND pour parlers
at Cannes. It is an open secret Ameri-
can statesmen are observing them with
the keenest interest. They are seen to
mold solution, which, if it takes the
course herein indicated, would make the
success Of the Washington conference,
in its naval aspect, 100 per cent perfect
It would make certain a limitation Of
submarine building. II would bring
within the realm OF the possible the
total abolition of submarines for which
Britain pleads and for which, there is