New Britain herald., 1925-02-16
LEAGUE TO TACKLE
 N ARMS MAKING
Will Discuss Convention to Control Private Munitions

Geneva, Feb. 16.-Whother an in- ternational convention to e0ntrol the private manufacture of arms Is feasi- ble and realizable at the present time will be discussed February l6 at Geneva by the league of nations reconstructed disarmament commis- sion, which IS officially known as the committee on coordination.
 The last assembly of the league requested the conncil 10 prepare a draft of an international conVen- ton for the private manufacture Of arms, munitions and war material, which wou.l serve as the basis of a later international conference. At its Rome session in December the coun- ell asked the coordination commit tee to take up this matter in Feb ruary, and decide whether to invite the United States immediately to take part in the preliminaries. Ar ticle 23 of the covenant entrusts the league with the general control of the traffic in arms and munitions between countries where such con- srol Is essential in the common in- terest.
 It is generally realized here that ths problem of the private manu- facture of arms offers infinitely greater difficulties of solution than that of the control of traffic. h. deed, in 1921 the permanent ad- ytsory military committee of the league reached the conclusion that no direct action, other than that al- ready provided for by the treaties of peace, can be taken in the case of producing states against the right of their private factories to manufac- ture war materials. The commission decided also that even If at some future time measures were con- templated to diminish production, no action should be taken to pre- vent non producing states from be- coming producers if they had the will and the means.
 LdJST tAc ulCdIl ILldl44CLlJ NOiliiAiiS- Acn suggested as reasonable meas ures that no munitions of war could be manufactured without a govern rnent license, publication by arma- nnent firms of complete reports on their financial situation and their contracts. auditing of manufactur- CTS accounts by governmental agents, and the prohibition that no persons interested in armament pro- duction could hold stock in similar firms in other countries, or be per mitted to publish newspapers. An other unique idea officially put for ward was that no warship could be transferred from one flag to another, without due notice being given to the league of nations.
 Since 1921 the problem of private manufacture has dragged on with out seeing very great progress be- cause the opinion grew that, as a whole, 1t could be better attacked by first solving the question of control of the traffic in arms from one country to another. This conclusion was based on the theory that the greatest international danger arose not from the free and untrammeled manufacture of arms, but from the unrestricted movement of these arms from one country to another. It is this phase of the problem which will be handled by the con- ference in May with the help of the United States.
 However, with 8 solution of the international traffic problem in sight, attention has been concentrat- ed anew on the problem of private manufacture, and hence the decision to examine this at Geneva.
 The labor interests of various eouEtries have come out fatly ir favor of a total and complete pro- hibition of private manufacture of