Evening star., 1923-07-30
MORE FOR WAR NOW
SPENT THAN BEFORE
British Armaments Since
1919 $4,000, 1000, 1000,
Other Nations Apace.
by ARTHUR r. DRAPER.
BY Cable 10 The Star and New York Tribune.
Copyright 1928.


Copyright. 1928.
LONDON, July 30. Since 1917
Great Britain has spent ss.Oo0,oOo,-
900 on her armaments. or sum
much larger than her war debt to
the United States. A proportionate
amount has been spent by France.
largely for the maintenance of her
army and the strengthening of her
air force. as we'll as enlargins her
light naval vessels.
If the military establishments OF
Poland, czechoslovakia. Rumania,
Hungary and Jugoslavia are taken
into consideration. it is plain that
Europe is spending infinitely more
On armaments in 1928 than she was
doing before the war. which was
fought ito end war.
Europe'S economic and nnanClai
situation cannot stand comparison
with the position nine years ago
when the roar of cannon warned the
world that another catastrophe was
threatening civilization
All the lessons which seemed in
delibly impressed on the minds OF the
European peoples in 1918 have been
sppearently forgotten by most Oh
Premier Baldwin told parliament
this week that Great Britain could
not take the lead in the move FOR
disarmament until France had OBJ
tanned settlement of the PREPARATIONS
problem.
Consider Baldwin scheme.
AS this is being written. the French
government Is considering Baldwin's 3
scheme for allied agreement as TO
Germany. It's decision must pro-
foundly influence the whole course or
the race in armament construction.
A refusal by Poincaire to accept the
German reparations offer means that
Britain will continue to spend stag
gering sums of money for her navy
and air defense, as we'll as the army.
II means that further drafts must re
made on the French treasury. 1t
means that taxation will continue At
present burdensome level. 1t means
that the atmosphere of war Will
thicken and eventually. perhaps soon
er than later. Europe will be in the
throes of another deadly struggle.
"One of the most terrible effetts of
the late war was to show the world
how thin is the crust of civilization
on which this generation Is walking =.
That sentence comes from Premier
Baldwin's speech, and no believer In
universal peace could hope to I'M
prove on it, The British premier
emphasozed the fact that the inherent
fighting instinct runs strongly in all
of US. but he agreed that the con-
science Of the world Is not yet stillrd.
Il
that he must give first thought 10 :he
defenses of the British empire,
though he shared the hope that
peace could be esta blished on d
eound basis.
Attention Called to League.
Baldwin directed attention to the
work which the league of nations is
doing to bring about disarmament
Several treaties will be presented
when the general assembly of the
league meets In Geneva In September.
Reparations and the inter-allied
debts loom indefinitely larger for pos
sibility of another war. Premier Bald
win gave a sort of half promise to
parliament that he would raise the
question of disarmament when he had
completed more pressing work-that
of reaching an agreement with
France over questions of German
reparations.
president Harding might take the
initiative of holding another inter
national conference over the question
of disarmament. but American inter-
ests are not so directly or vitaily in
volved as they were when the Pres
ident invited the nations to consider
Pacific pact. Americas Army is
, smaller than that of the third-rate
European states Her air force is not
even a potential menace to Europe
Her interests in an Atlantic pact
would bring her into negotiations
with Britain almost alone of the
European powers, and happily there
is little need of any anglo American
discussions on this question at the
present time. If conferences are held,
il looks as If Britain will have to
take the lead, and in that case Ameri-
ca would be invited to participate.
If Baldwin Is right in his analysis
of the situation. France holds the key
to a general peace settlement
Thus far, France and Britain have
been unable to find basis for agree
ment
There remains here of the possibili-
ty of participation by America IN the
task of reaching settlement of the
Yeparations problem.