Evening star., 1924-05-04
BY FRANK III. SIMoNDs.

days ago, President Coolidge
J reopened the familiar discus
sion of disarmament with a
tentative proposal for new confer
ence to deal with the question of air.
| craft, submarines and land arma-
ment Although the Presidents own
words were carefully chosen and did
no more than suggest that such a
| conference could be called only when
the pending question of reparations
had been definitely disposed of, this
speech was quite generally inter-
preted in the United States and Great
| Britain as forecasting a relatively
prompt world assembly
BY contrast the same speech Gre
| ated marked apprehension and even
| provoked some unfavorable criticism
on the continent, both in Paris and
| in the capitals of countries which
not only maintain considerable mill
tary establishments but also feel
that they are unable to reduce these
until such time as the dangers against
which they are guarding have been
materially reduced.
We are then back at the point of de-
| parture of all the debates which since
the war. and even before the war,
| have ragged over the subject of reduc-
tion, limitation and even abolition of
military establishments. And once
more the clash is outlined between
the two opposing views, those Of the
Anglo-SaXon countries, whose from
| tiers do not march with dangerous
! M ybn
! enjoy security, and those other less
! fortunate countries who have neigh
! bors whom recent events have dem
| onstrated to be and to have been
dangerous.
There is an American point of view,
which is fairly generally held, that
Europe, speaking broadly, differs
! from America in that it is funda-
mentally militaristic. All things con-
| sidered, this American view is rather
| bitterly rejected. There, after all, is
1 the fundamental difference between
! the continental point of view and the
American. The European says in all
sincerity that the manner in which
! TO achieve disarmament, the only
conceivable method, is to reduce the
4
essary. He rejects as totally un-
founded the idea that peace is at
| tainable by the mere reduction of the
size of armies, just as he holds ridicu-
lous the notion that armies-the size
of armies, that is-may be a cause
OF war
Debate of. Long Standing.
In one form or another there has
been debate between the continent
of Europe and both America and
Great Britain ever since Mr.. Wilson
took his league of nations proposal
to Paris. Mr.. Wilson at The outset
held to the American point of view
that the way to insure peace was to
abolish armies. But as the Paris
conference progressed he discovered
that he could accomplish nothing un-
less he made one of two concessions:
He had either to agree that the
league of nations should be pledged
! to armed defense of its members
against an outside attack or against
the attack of any member in def
ance of pledges, or he had to consent
that the United States, as we'll as
specila guarantees of France against
Germany.
Mr.. Wilson rejected the notion of
a league of nations with a standing
army and police powers. AS con-
sequence he had to accept the al
Tentative, which was an Anglo
American guarantee of assistance to
France in case of another German
attack. But when this guarantee
was repudiated by the United States
Senate, then the whole project fell
through, and the French, as well as
all of the other continental states,
promptly put aside all hope of abol-
ishing standing armies, and the pol
icy of armament in modified form
as to numbers was universally ac-
| cepted on the continent.
At the Washington conference the
same old debate was reopened. The
British quite obviously pressed for
American assistance in bringing
about land disarmament American
support was refused for the simple
reason that NJ. BRAND, speaking for
France, said quite frankly that
France could not and would not re-
duce her army beyond what she re-
earded as the safety point, save as
America and Britain were prepared
to offer France the insurance of a
guarantee. And neither America nor
britain were prepared to offer any
thing.
yiewpoint Not Changed.
Actually there is nothing now to
suggest that since the Washington
! conference nearly three years ago,
there has been the smallest change
in the continental point of view.
France has in the meantime made
military compacts with Poland and
with Belgium, looking to mutual sup
port in case Of any challenge of the
status quo created by the Paris
treaties. In other words, France, Po-
land and Belgium would act together
il Germany attacked any one of the
three. In all probability Czeeho-
slovakai would follow the same
course, for she is also menaced by
any German attempt at expansion.
In the same way Poland, and Ru-
mania are allied against any Rus
sian attack upon either, and their
armies are organized as to numbers
with an eye single to the numbers
which might be thrown against them
by Russia. Czechoslovakia, Rumania
and Jugoslavia are similarly bound
in the little entente to act together
in case of Hungarian attack, while
Rumania and Jugosiavia have an
understanding with respect of Bull
garia.
Now, the way to obtain reduc-