Evening star., 1925-10-21
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

I,ocarno undoubtedly places the
United States Government on the
horns of q dilemma. That Is 70 say,
il eIevates to that uncomfortable ped
estal an administration which mas
branded the League OF Nations q
closed incident as far as America Is
concerned. As certain as anything
can be, the league is going ahead
with a disarmament conference. II
long ago served notice that the con
ference would become practical pos
sibility as soon as Europe buried its
hatreds and fears. Such obsequies
having just taken place at Locarno.
the decks are clear. The league will
move. It will move with American
support, If support can be had, hut
without il II necessary. Unless the
administration mind has undergone
a radical change since II was author
itatively disclosed to this observer q
few days ago. a league conference IS
taboo in Washington. We should
only bcnevolently observe it. We
! should wish it well. But there
would be one vacant chair. That
would be the one reserved for Uncle
| sam.
The Presidents visitors. when Lo-
carno is under discussion, receive the
ers that a European armament con
ference would deal only with land
armament and be of correSpondingly
minor interest 10 America. There Is
as vet no European authority for
such conclusion. The air, for in
stance, IS today as important fac
| tor in land defense as infantry or
artillery. A country like Czecho-
sIovakia, without a seacoast, looks
upon aircraft as vital TO its terri
| torial security. Aircraft. therefore,
| comes directly within the scope of
| land arInaments. 1t is bound TO be
taken substantially into account when
| Europe considers limitation of mill
! tary weapons. Great Britain. which
/ is essentially a naval rather than Il
military power, because OF her in
sular position. has perhaps a hVelier
. interest in limitation OF aircraft than
any other nation in the world. For the
| past four years Britain has lived in
! terror because of French air power
and it's danger to a group OF islands
which are within half an hours
striking distance by air. When Eu-
rope talks disarmament, John Bull
will insist that aircraft be on the
| agenda.
! Disarmament will mean little in
| Europe, too, unless 1t deals with auxil-
airy naval craft. particularly sub
| marines. 1t was Frances stubborn
| refusal 10 debate limitation of sub
marine armaments that made their dis
cussion at Washington impossible in
| 1922 France is willing to accept a
position of inferiortty with respect TO
battleships and battle cruisers, but
declined at Washington to surrender
| the right to put in the water as many
submarines as she can build. The
| French want "submersible' craft for
! two ma jor reasons. In the first place,
! they think their possession in large
numbers would always enable them
to keep the British battleship fleet at
bay. In the second place, the French,
! who In war would use hundreds of
thousands of native troops from AL
| giers, Tunis and Morocco believe they
| could only insure the delivery of these
men on European battlefields by con-
voying them across the Mediterranean
with submarines. Thus, disarmament
| both for Britain and France concerns
in high degree ornaments that are
not essentially land ornaments.
Y r
| So that, taking one considerat ton
with another. the League of Nations
, conference that is the child of Locarno
will be called upon to deal with weap-
ons not only of the land. but of the
sky and Of the sea. The question
which will sooner or later face the
| United States, therefore, Is whether a
general disarmament conference is one
from which this country can afford
to abstain. President Coolidge has
i
ance with his time honored practice.
look before he leaps. He will come
Ito no specific conclusions on hypo-