Evening star., 1924-08-25
LEAGUE PLANS NEW
ARMAMENTS PACT.
Will Consider American Draft
to Replace; Mutual Assist
ance Treaty..
By the Associated Press.

py tHe asSOCldtSu Iress
GENEVA, August 25.-With a view
to a general reputation of the draft
pact for mutual assistance, the dis
armament section of the League of
Nations has drawn up an outline of
a new tentative project which IN
corporates a number of features of
the so-called American draft pact on
disarmament and security. The new
project provides that any member
of the league may call the attention
of the council to the eXiStance OF
danger of war in some designated
region, whereupon the council VIII
meet for an Immediate investigation
If the council finds that danger
actually exists it will invite the af-
fected countries to withdraw their
armies SO or 100 miles from the
frontier, to order the stoppage OF all
aviation, to cease all war prepara-
tions and mutually to agree to sub
nit the question in dispute to the
World Court of Justice or some ar
bitration tribunal. a nation refus-
ing to submit such dispute Will be
regarded as agGressor nation, ana
the other world powers signing the
pact would prepare to mobilize
against the offending nation.
Need Of Guarantees.
Disarmament and secruity will be
the two great subjects OF DEBATE In
the Forthcoming assembly. All pre-
liminary studies on disarmament by
the experts of the League or Ma
tions are based on the assumption
that a general reduction of arrna-
ments is only possible to the extent
whereby the powers agreeing to re-
duction will possess guarantees and
lose their fear of aggression against
national security.
A second assumption is that the
further limitation of naval armamentS
in an extension of the Washington
agreements will so affect submarines,
cruisers and aircraft that 1T Will be
only possible if accompanied by
simultaneous agreement to reduce land
forces.
League officials say they emphasized
these two axioms at this time because
of repeated reports from Washington
that President Cooliodge intends later
to convoke new conference on dis
armament The question is freely
asked here whether in taking the
lead in new disarmament parleys the
Washington government is disposed
in principle to take some response
bility with reference to an interna-
tional arrangement concerning guar
antees for security.
Arms Traffic Control.
The disarmament agenda of the
assembly is heavy. Besides a gen
eral reduction of armaments and the
question of security. it includes con-
sideration of draft project for in
ternational control of the traffic IN
arms, which the United States helped
to frame and which will doubtless |
be submitted to an international con-
ference at a future date; the ques- |
tion of the control of the private |
manufacture of arms and the out |
standing project to extend the princi-
pies of the Washington naval con-
ference to non-signatory powers
On this last subject some of the |
powers are disposed to accept the |
Washington principle of allocating |
the tonnage displacement on the |
basis of the status quo. but others |
prefer handling the whole problem |
from the standpoint of article VIII |
of the covenant, which declares that |
the nations will reduce their national |
armament to the lowest point con-
sistent with national safety. The |
officials are convinced that nothing
tangible can be accomplished on this
question without the corporation of
Russia and Turkey as sea powers.
They issued a warning yesterday
against excessive optimism that the
forthcoming assembly will carry out
great concrete achievements in the
settlement Of the problem of disarm-
ament. 1t is hoped, however, to lead
the discussion into new and fruitful
channels and simultaneously devise
some means of securing the needed
cola boration of the United States.
The present trend at Geneva as
means of developing an atmosphere
Of security and making the way
easier for armament reduction is to
obtain an extension of the arbitra-
tion agreements and induce the ma
tions generally to submit all danger
GUS disputes to the World Court. II
One hundred and fifty Americans
have requested seats at the opening
session of the assembly, but it is
hardly possible that places will be
found for all of them. In addition to
the British prime minister, Ramsay
and NJ. Herriot, the
French premier, as we'll as the for
eign ministers of practically all the
European states, are expected at
Geneva, and important political con-
ferences are certain to be held out
side the assembly auditorium.
The countries of the little entente,
which postponed their projected meet
ing at Zagreb, Jugoslavia, plan to
hold their annual consultation here