Evening star., 1926-05-18
ARMAMENTS BASED
ONPOPULAT|ONAN AND
AREAURGEDBYU. US.
American Plan to Be Offered
at Conference Opposes
That of France.
LIMITATION OF TONNAGE
SOUGHT FOR ALL VESSELS
Formula, Far Simpler Than
Leagues. Being Held Up-Asks
Cuts in All Branches at Once.
RY JUNIUS r. WOOD,

Bx C.ble 70 The Star and Chicago Daily News
GENEVA. MAY 1S.-The American
formula for world disarmament. which
the United States delegation was pre-
pared to present when it entered the
conference Of 20 nations here today,
IS extremely simple and direct as COM
pared with the complicated League OF
Nations questionnaire which is the
basis Of the present discussions.
The actual date when the American
proposals will be presented depends
upon DEVELOPMENT of the discussions.
with the possibility that additional
questions may be propounded by other
delegates before actual discussions OF
q solution start.
Each delegate is expected to avail
himself of the opportunity 10 outline
his countrys position. The opening
remarks on Americas position will be
made Wednesday or Thursday by
Hugh Gibson, American Minister to
Switzerland. who is chairman of the
United States delegation.
Points of American Formula.
The salient features of the Ameri
can formula upon which the ultimate
disarmament conference should pro
ceed are rs follows:
1-Limitation of hattleship tonnage,
as fixed at the Washington confer
ence. should he extended to all classes
of naval vessels, maintaining the
ratio of 5.5-3.
2-Limitation of land armament
should be based on population and
area of the home country. exclusive
of colonies. and in direct ratio rather
than inverse ratio as France pro-
poses.
3-Adoption of voluntary instead
of compulsory military service, as is
now the case in most European
countries.
4-MakinG peace time service stan
dard in character and specified in
term. In this connection. the United
States Is opposed to voluntary en-
listments for a longer period than
three years.
5-Any limit alton based on the
wealth Of an individual nation is i'm
practical. on account of the impossi-
bility of agreeing as to the extent
OF that wealth.
Opposes Limiting Budgets.
s. ANY limitation fixing the maxi
mum military budgets for individual
nations is unacceptable. AS far as the
United States is concerned, the War
Depa rtment budget includes appro-
priations for river and harbor work,
the Panama Canal and many other
non.war like activities. Moreover. the
United States should be affected be-
cause of the fact that its pay for
officers and soldiers is higher per
capita than European scales.
The American formula, worked out
by experts of the State, War and
~ haf ho doIn
ton left Washington. includes con-
siderable more than the above out
line. The American experts consider
futile anv attempts to equaliZe the
possible war strength Of nations as
long as nations differ with respect
to natural resources, man power and
social conditions.
On motion OF Lord Cecil of Great
Britain. seconded by Gen. Marins of
Italy. the committee decided to ap-
point it's own commission of special
lists on land, aerial and naval arma-
ments, thus agreeing with Americas
wishes without the latter participat-
ing in the discussions
Americans Sitting Tight.
The decision was made in executive
session following the opening hours.
when, after the declination of NJ.
Idul bOIICOul vi i IdIitt ~ dCCSDl Tic
craftsmanship, DR.. Loudon of Holland
was selected unanimously. Senor
Cobain of Spain and Senior Buero of
Uruquay-the latter on motion of
Minister Gibson-were selected as
Ice presidents of the committee.
The committee decided on the general
principle of open sessions.
The American delegation expects to
sit tight until the discussions and sug-
sestions OF other countries reach the
stage where acceptance of the Amer
lean formula seems possible.
Should another country, however.
propose immediate discussion of
naval ornaments which are consider
ably easier to limit than land arma-
ments, the American delegation is
instructed to express Americas de-
sire to continue the limitations pro-
vided in the Washington conference.
While the American policy favors
simultaneous limitation of land, naval
and aerial armament. America is quite
willing to discuss them separately,
believing there are too many complica-
tions involved to make possible a
single agreement on all three.
Copyright. 1926. by Chicago Daily News Coz
GERMANY MAY ASK MORE MEN.