Evening star., 1927-03-31
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

the league or why the nations do not
intervene to stop the Chinese internal
war Is that 1t is not proper to inter-
| fere in internal affairs. Yet the situa-
ton has fmperiled the safety Of all
foreigners and cost many foreigners
their lives. NJ. BRAND so replied to
question in the French assembly.
|
In the meanwhile. how fares the
American proposal for a naval dis
| armament conference to be held at
Geneva early in June? The Chinese
crisis has not added to the conditions
favorable to- talk of disarmament. for
no prophet can foresee what the situa-
| tion in the Orient may develop. New
| ertheless, in Europe the interest In
possible agreement of practical value
has not disappeared. England. Japan
and the United States agree to nego-
tiate. but France and Italy stand
aloof.' France asks that before she
lays down her guns there be some
| tangible security that she will not
| need them in defense. England replies
that security will logically follow re-
duction of ornaments" Will It?
France and Italy are skeptical.
Frances answer to President Cool.
idges proposal was:
II. That the American proposal
might compromise the success Of the
| work already begun at Geneva.
'2. That it violates the principle Of
| the equality of states by limiting the
effort to few powers; and,
| "3. That 1t Is contrary to the fun
| damentaf tenet of the French program
OF disarmament, namely, that limita-
| tion of land. air and naval armaments
cannot be undertaken separately"
Italy took similar position, saying
that the undeniable interdependence
between every kind OF armament of
every single nation made it impossible
to adopt partial measures applicable
| only to five great naval powers; that
| limitation of armament must be uni
versal. and that Italy. on account of
her geographic position, cannot expose
herself to any restriction of her naval
armaments. which are already insuff-
cient for the needs of her defense
Italy must take account of the other
nations which have access to the Medi-
terranean and which have under con-
struction many naval units of great
Importance"
In contradistinction to the obiec-
tions of France and Italy to consider
ing only naval reduction. without
reference to land and air armaments
at the same time, the United States
takes the position that to undertake
all three questions simultaneously
would only complicate the conference.
For that reason says the State De-
partment, I'VE feel that ultimate sue
cess lies along the line of isolating
from the general problem as many
concrete questions as possible and deal
ing with them in a. direct and prac-
tical manner. 1t is our view that
there Is no possibility Of deviNng a
system for the Limitation and reduc-
ton of ornaments which could be
made applicable or acceptable to all
the countries of the world, and that
any attempt to reach a solution would
merely mean an indefinite postpone
ment of achievement. We feel that
land and air armaments constitute an
essentially regional problem, and that
different solutions can best meet the
needs of different regions; that naval
armament can best be dealt with
through agreement among a limited
number of naval powers"
1t was one Of the original and impor-
tant principles OF the League of Ma
tions to devote its attention to devils
ing means Of reducing armaments.
See Article 8 of it's covenant:
The council, taking account of tks
geographical situation and circum-
stances of each state, shall formulate
plans for such reduction for the con-
sideration and action of the several
governments"
In 1920 the league recognized that
the two problems of national security
and reduction of means of self-defense
could not be separated. In 1923 pro-
posals OF treaties of mutual assist
ance" against aggression and a pro-
tocol for "the pacific settlement of
international disputes" were rejected
by the league.
In 1925 the council appointed the
committee to prepare plan to pre-
vent war. which plan is discussed in
the opening paragraphs above. These :
proposals will be submitted to the 4
league council In June.
<SWMAk kees. ~ RAna v. csiilsnA