New Britain herald., 1927-06-20

tenn. That is to say. they want free
 dom to apportion their total ton
 mage to the types of warships the!
 deem best suited to the protection
 of their national independence ant
 the safeguarding of their security
 At the final meeting of the League!
 preparatory commission France
 made what she termed a compro
 mise proposal framed with the pur
 pose of conciliation. but which Brit
 ish and American experts declared
 to be unsatisfactory. The proposa
 was that France would disclose tht
 aggregate tonnage she expected tt
 build in particular type of war
 ship but that this distribution oi
 her total tonnage could be modified | provided one years notice was giver
 of an intended departure fvom the treaty-fixed allocation.
 Ar Italian proposal went less far than the French. It was that all powers should be left free to ap- portion their total naval tonnage in the manner best meeting their na- tional needs, with the understanding however. that six months before lay ing the keel of warship descrip- tion of the ship should be filed with the League of Nations.
 The British delegates. who were really voicing the views of the Amer jeans as we'll. found both French and Italian suggestions inadequate and unacceptable on the ground that they gave an element of uncertain ty to all future naval building pro- grams. They contended that an agreement was only possible and. in- ueed. practicable if all the import ant naval powers know exactly not only the total tonnage of their fel- low nations but also the exact dis tribution of this tonnage into par t:cular types of warships. Put con- cretely, England would want to know how many submarines France and Italy intended to construct in order that she herself might reach a de- cision as to her own needed subma- rine strength in the Mediterranean to protect her trade route to India and in the North Sea to protect the coasts of her homeland.
 The League commission separated without reaching any accord on this vital aspect of disarmament with the hope that governments would find means of attaining an agreement. or that the three-power conference would hasten a general accord by bringing about a treaty between the United States. Great Britain and Ja pan.
 The ardent hope is being expressed here that tomorrow's conference will be more successful than an attempt launched by the League of Nations three years ago to secure an ex- tension of the principles of the treaty to the smaller naval powers who were not sigma tory to that treaty.
 Meeting at Rome
 This league attempt took the form of a meeting in Rome of a special
  atives of the smaller states who pos sessed battleships, including Soviet R Russia, which was invited not as a small power but as a nation whose naval strength was considerably re- iuced So many reservations were made by the participating powers a the draft convention formulated. md so high were the demands for he naval tonnage that the League saw little use in endeavoring to pro- ,eed in the plan of extending the ! principles. Argentine. [ -'hili, Denmark. Greece. Holland. ! Soviet Russia and Turkey. ! III were invited to send delegates. md all accepted except Turkey. Ar ,cntina sent merely an observer and he representative of Uruguay. who vas present by virtue of the fact hat his country was q member of he permanent. military commission f the League. announced that he lust refrain from expressing any 'pinion on the subjects to he treated.
 AS during the recent sessions of he League commissions which Is eeking to prepare for a general dis rmament conference, the sessions t Rome revealed that many powers ere opposed to allocatirg their ton- age into types or categories Of insisting that they must ave perfect freedom to build those tarships they thought best adapted 9 their national requirements.
 Soviet Russia insisted upon q total tonnage of :So.No0 tons. toscow's delegate announced. how yer. that he would cnly. sign a -eaty which expressly stated that ne Straits of Dardane.les and the 'osporus should be closed to all assage of warships. that the en- , -ance to the Baltic sea by the Sund