Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-13
PRESIDENT SCORES FIRST POINT
WITH POWERS ON NAVAL PLAN

Consequently at the beginning Of the
conference the American delegation
presented certain principls for the
consideration which may be trteny
as follows.
'(D That there should be a direct
approach to the questions OF hmita'
ton and reduction Of ornaments with
out awaiting complicated measures for
providing security. in the belief that
the cause Of security will be prompted
through the reduction and Limitation
Of ornaments and the elimination OF
suspicion and iii will which can be
expected to follow.
Element Of Good viii.
"(2) That in order to be really
effective agreements for the reduc-
tion and limitation of ornaments
must be founded upon the respect
for treay obligations and a belief In
the good faith OF the contracting
parties. 1t is our belief that any
agreements founded upon distrust
and providing for a machinery of
inspection and control will not only
create new elements of suspicion and
Ill will.
"(3) We believe that insistence
upon a joint consideration of land.
sea and air ornaments will tend to
render needlessly complicated the
task of final conference and will
tend to render more difficult achieve
ment in regard to the limitation and
reduction Of any single category of
armament. For that reason we feel
that ultimate success lies along the
line Of isolating from the general
problem as many concrete questions
as possible and dealing with them in
direct and practical manner;
"(D We feel that the only prac-
teal approach to the question Of the
the limitation and reduction of arma =
ments Is through dealing with visible
ornaments at peace strength. We
feel that this is relatively simple
problem where we are dealing with
known quantities and where. through
the exercise Of patience and good
will. we can hope for constructive
achievement. We feel on the other
hand. that any scheme involving the
complicated and variable Industrial.
financial and economic factors would
tend to inject a needless compiled
ton into the problem and render
more difficult any hope of real
achievement
Regional Reduction Proposed.
"(0) 1t IL our view that there is no
possibility of devising system for
the limitation and reduction Of arma
nents which could be made either ap-
plicable or acceptable to all countries
of the world and that an attempt to
reach a solution would merely mean
an indefinite poMponement Of achieve.
ment. We feel that land and air
ornaments constitute an essentially
regional problem and that different
solutions can best meet the needs of
different regions; that naval arma.
ment can best be dealt with through
olrect agreement among a limited
number Of naval powers.
Il may state for your information
that when we entered the preparatory
confrence In May, 1925, we had no
previous arrangements or understand
ings with any government. Our repre-
sentatlves stated our views at the
open meeting and we feel that the six
months Of discussion which followe.:
have only served to confirm the sound.
ness OF the stand taken by our repre-
sentatives.
rms Is further confirmed by the
Iact that from a position of almost
complete isolation at the beginning of
the conference our thesis has so far
commenced itself to other delegations
that before the recent adjournment in
November almost half of the confer.
ence voluntarily came to support orr
views without any changes, conces.
slons, or abandonment Of principle on
eur part. ="
1T seems to me that it has been a
cordlngiy, the preparatory commits.
'..any- divergent views and narrow the