New Britain herald., 1927-06-20
THREE POWERS IN
 NAVAL CONFERENCE
Limitation of Strength Begun at
 Washington to Be Finished

IeneVa. June l9~-lne OoJect Ol
 the three-power naval conference
 which opens tomorrow. is to com
 plete the work of limitation of na. val strength begun at the five-powel
 conference in Washington. There 8
 treaty was signed in 1922 limiting
 the tonnage Of battleships for the
 United States. Great Britain. Japan
 France and Italy. limiting also the
 tonnage of aircraft carriers and li-
 hitting the size of individual cruis-
 CTS to ten thousand tons. The Wash
 ington treaty laid down the now fa-
 nous ratio of 5-5.3 and resulted in
 the scrapping of a large number of
 tattleships-
 By. the treaty. Great Britain was
 permitted to have total battleship
 tonnage of 525.000 tons, the United
 States the same tonnage, Japan: Sl5.-
 900. and France and Italy each
 l75.0o0 tons. The giving to France
 and Italy of lower ratio than to
 the others caused in later years con-
 siderable criticism. especially in
 France. where it was openly stated
 that France could never accept a
 similar ratio for auxiliary craft, de- stroyers and submarines. which are
 to be treated at tomorrow's confer cree.
 The Washington Treaty fixed 35.-
 00O tons standard displacement as the maximum tonnage of each cap
 i,al ship to be constructed by the signatories, and fixed the maximum calibre of guns aboard at 1s inches. The total tonnage for aircraft car riers was placed at 135.000 tons for the United States and Great 1sitain: sI,oOo tons for Japan: and 6o.ooo tons each for France and Italy.
 Although the treaty fixed the maximum tonnage of individual cruisers at 10000 and the maximum gun calibre aboard at g inches, no limit was placed upon the number of cruisers that any signatory could construct And one result of this fact has been that both Great Bri- tain and Japan have built up cruis- CT forces in excess of that of the United States.
 A feature of the Washington con- ference was the United States ac- ceptance of a Japanese proposal to maintain the status quo with re- spect 10 Notifications and naval has- es in the Pacific ocean. This meant that the United States could not in- crease its Qualifications or naval bas- As in the Philippines. Guam and tho Aleutian Islands. though Americans are free to add to their forttfrca- 'ions in the Hawaiian group and in the islands adjacent to the coast Of Panama Canal Zone.
 Tn an address delivered at New Haven. Conn. December %, 1922, Charles F. Hughes. who was Socre- tary of State and head of the American delegation to the Wash ington conference. voiced his regret that an American proposal for the | limitation Of auxiliary warcraft was not accepted by the conference. The ! American delegation had proposed | a ratio in auxiliary craft similar to that recognized by the treaty for | capital ships. The failure to- settle the problem of auxiliary craft at Washington induced President Cool idee to convoke tomorrow.s confer once in order that naval limitation shall be extended to all categories oy warships Naval experts here are quite ready to admit that unless the seal of limitation affects all war ships. there will inevitably be in- creased construction by nations Of those varships upon which no re- strictions are laid.
 Treaty in Force
 The Washington treaty remains in force until December Sl. l936. In case none of the contracting powers shall have given notice two years before that date of it's intention to terminate the treaty. 1t shall con tinue in force until the expiration ot two years from the date on which notice of termination is given by one of the powers.
 The Washington conference achieved other things besides the limiting of capital ships and aircraft carriers. It arranged a treaty con- corning use of submarines and poi son gases: 1t defined principles and policies in matters concerning China. including Chinese custom tariffs: 1t Shantuns treaty between China and Japan. whereby the pro- vince of Confucius was restored to Chinese sovereignty: and finally, and in the opinion of many foreign statesmen, most important of all. It got rid of the Anglo-Japanese AL lance and substituted therefore four power treaty between the Cni- ed States, the British Empire. France and Japan. which. based up- sn their insular possess,ons and do- ninions in the Pacific Ocean. is re- ally an instrument for the mainte- nance of peace in the Pacific.
 Hughes has given as one Of the llain reasons for the success of the Conference the fact that [ was restricted in naval matters 0 8 small group of powers who were dealing with problems in which hey had common interest. 1t is believed that the same remark may .pply to tomorrows conference, . here the three big naval powers are supposed to have a ommon intrest in reaching an un- concerning auxiliary and 8 common desire to void a naval race which involves normous expenditure in the con- truction of warships.
 Although the United States. Great 'pitain and Japan. are practically in ccord concerning the method of hitting navies. their position on this uestion is at variance with that of rance and Italy. who declined the merican invitation to participate , the barley but who were later aquested to send observers provided ,ey could not agree to full-fiedged 
 As was revealed during the ses-