Evening star., 1927-12-09
FAILURE OF NAVAL
/ PARLEY DESCRIBED
Eight.lnch Gun Cruiser QueS-
ton Caused Collapse,
Records Show.
By the Associated Press.

oS tnS, AsSOcldteO Frtss
GENEVA, Switzerland. December 8.
Confirmation that the fundamental
cause OF the collapse of the three pow.
er naval conference was the inability
of Great Britain and the United States
to agree on the question of the eight
inch gun cruiser is found in the Of
fetal records of the conference pub.
lished last night The book contains
164 printed pages and is entitled.
"Records of the Conference for the
Limitation of Naval Armament Held
at Geneva From June 20 to August 4,
1927"
An examination of the records dis.
closes that many incidents of the con-
ference have been expurgated. includ
ing that of the private session when
the American delegation threatened to
leave after an attack by Lord Cecil
on the American position. The rec.
ords show that on July IS, Hugh S.
Gibson. head of the American dele
CATION. referred to statement which
he had made at a previous meeting
setting forth the views of the United
States respecting freedom of arma-
ment for cruisers and the eight-inch
gun.
The record says that Mr.. Gibson in
uuired whether the British govern
ment was adamant in it's view with re-
spect to abolshing the eight-inch gun
for new construction other than TO-
o00-ton cruisers and certain specified
vessels, and adds: 'Viscount Cecil eX-
planned that this was the case and
that they had instructions not 10 de-
viate from this point"
Fateful Meeting Described.
At the fateful meeting, on the night
of August 3, when the decision was
reached that it would be useless to
continue the conference, the records
indicate that Mr.. Gibson announced
that if the authorized programs" in
cluded for Great Britain, the ships
which were projected. but for which
money had not been appropriated.
the cruiser strength. of the British En-
pire would be far in excess of any
figure which in the opinion of the
American delegation would constitute
limitation.
When the British had explained that
to them the authorized programs"
were those passed by the government
and submitted to Parliament. the
American delegation declared that the
figures under the British interpreta-
tion represented so high a level as
not to constitute real limitation.
Rear Admiral Pound of Great Brit
ain remarked that the caliber of guns
was the great difficulty. Arrange
ments were then made for a final
plenary session the following day. Mr..
Gibson read q telegram from Secre-
tary of the State Kellogg intimating
that public discussion of contentious
problems might jeopardize a future
solution. Mr.. Gibson pointed out that
public opinion was much excited and
that the present place and time did
not offer a good atmosphere for dis
cussion.
British Total Debated.
The report of the meeting of the
technical experts on June % discloses
that there was much discussion of the
question of Great Britain's having a
total cruiser tonnage of 600 900 TONS
The chairman of the meeting, who
apparently was "a British delegate, 4
though not named in the records, said
that Great Britain would be satisfied
with fifteen 10,000-ton cruisers, or any
agreed number. and 55 small cruisers
with a maximum tonnage OF 1880,
though some of the British cruisers
were under this mark
Rear Admiral Hilary p Jones.
United States, said he understood
Great Britain wanted so cruisers of
a maximum limit of 1900 tons, and
remarked that q total cruiser tonnage
of 100000 was not limitation
Admiral Earl Jellicoe explained thu.
the figure 100000 tons was due to
the fact that the 10.000-ton cruiser
had been agreed to at Washington.
but he argued that If the number of
big cruisers was reduced Great Brit.
ain would have more tonnage left to
distribute in smaller ships. whose in
dividual size could be reduced, thus
considerably reducing the total ton
mage. No agreement was reached on
this point. #