Evening star., 1926-06-04
THE GENEVA CONFERENCE
BY FRANK II. SIMONDS

the supreme feet in Europe. because
it in for them the protection of tne'r
lines of communication with tne'r
colonies and the single guarantee ~
food supplies for the homeland. But
why should Britain he able To claim
such supremacy for its fleet and AZ
the same time argue for fhe reouc-
tion of French and Italian armies
And will not France and ltaiy-Ger-
many az we'll for that mstter-insist
that British naval strength he linn
tied If land forces are also TO he re-
stricted?
Rack OF this lies the even greater
problem just rising to view. sritaln.
Germany and the United States are
great industrial nations. and Br1tAn
and the United States have vast re-
sources in raw materials. France. ny
contrast. is still mainly an agricul-
tural state, while Italy is destitute ot
all raw materials as France is lacking
in coal. With a larger population ann
an enormously greater Industrial ma
chine, Germany. for example. conlh
overwhelm France or Italy. ana prom
ABLY both of them. once she got her
Industry transformed to a war basis.
Therefore. the French. the itai-
ians. the Belgians and other people
In the same situa ton insist that
other factors than bsyonet strength
must be reckoned In the considera
ton of Limitation OF ornaments.
This is at once logical and involves
the incalcuIa ble-that is. In word.
il makes for argument. not action.
For, after all. how can YOU balance
horsepower with manpower or fac
tories with regiments?
At the moment. too. Europe " In
q singularly bad position for making
any considerable decisions. While
the British strike is over. this after
math and the great economic prob
lens which continue are hound W
absorb all national attention. France
is faced with the collapse of the
franc Germany. France. Poland and
a number Of other nations have no
toriously weak ministries. which
might fall at any moment. and most
easily in case Of some action In
foreign conference which aroused ma
tional opposition.
Speaking In general E,Irope 10 In
its most peaceful state OF mind since
1903 at least. Also. IL is fair to say
that in general internatio rels-
tions are better than at any moment
since the Kaiser went to Tanger on
the morrow of the battle Of Mukden.
but what is most feared In Europe Ia
that the discussion of armsments al
Geneva will rouse still recent pas
sions. promote new diversencies. lead
to manipulation and maneuver and
postpone the very thing the confer
ence undertakes TO accelerate.
And 1t goes without saying that. D.
spite outward appearances. Europe
resents the American presence and
activity. because II believes that the
United States. while promoting dis
armament. will undertake no respon
sibility to support a nation which
suffers Ia Ter from reducing its armies
now, and suspects that our real oh
jective is to insure debt payments to
us by reducing military expenditures.
In the hope of new loans and credits
the European powers may. on the
surface, pay attention to what we
say. but in reality we appear more
generally distrusted and detested
than at any moment in our whole
history.
When / left Europe the expecta-
ton for the Geneva affair was end
less discussion. covering perhaps one
year. perhaps Two. and amounting tn
some pious and pls titudinous decls-
rations. but to no more. Europe II
not ready TO disarm or he disarn,sd
by conference. and It. regards the
present meeting as premature aud
possibly pernicious. since 1t may
bring on so many ouarrels.
tCopyrigbt. 1921 3