Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-11-12
COOLIDGE SPEECH
HELD SIGNIFICANT
Accepted as Blunt Statement
That Present European
Policy Will Continue.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

The opportunity til at comes rarely to
q President of the United States-to
! speak plainly on the eve of his own re-
| tirement and yet not to have his ut
| terances construed as without signi-
ficance for the future, because he is
about to leave office-has come to
Calvin Coolidge. And his Armistice
day speech is fraught with the greatest
Importance because there is every rea-
son to believe it reflects not only the
! point Of view Of Mr. Coolidge, but that
of Herbert Hoover. president-elect.
1t was .ccalled today that Mr.
Hoover AFR a recent visit to the White
House was asked if the President
| planned to make any campaign
speeches and he remarked that the
President had some in mind for after
! the election. 1t was being assumed to-
| day that the President told Mr.. Hoover
of his general thought about the Euro
! pcail situation.
| Indeed. it is known from other evil
| dence that Mr.. Hoover feels that reduc-
| ton or armament must go hand-in- hand
with any further assistance to Europe
| from the United States. The advantage
| of Mr.. Coolidges frankness at this
| time is that it paves the way for the
! Hoover administration The new Presi-
American policy and in criticism of
| European policy. Yet it has been felt
| here for some time that the blunt
| word had to be spoken sooner or later
Speech Is Significant.
The Coolidge speech may go down in
diplomatic history as one of the most
significant of this decade. Not only did
it clarity Americas after-the-war pol
icy, but hit directly at suggestions that
America came into the war too late or
did not, participate heavily in its costs
and sacrifices.
But the most important passage is
the fiat assertion that the United States
is still vitality interested in the reduction
of naval ornaments and will make
this the acid test of its future rela-
tions with Europe. The 1921 treaty on
| naval limitation will be up for renewed
discussion in year or so and the re-
cent French-British secret understand
ing did not sit we'll with American
officials.
Mr.. Coolidge still is disappointed over
the British attitude at the Geneva naval
conference, which he summoned, and
now when Europe is looking again to
America to float the bonds which shall
enable the Dawes plan to be revised,
VIC TIcoIOcIC IIldkCS IL Cledr Ufl2C any
further help will have to be coincide1t
with some definite and drastic steps to-
ward the limitation of all classes of
naval armament. Mr.. Coolidge's, argu-
ment that the United States can afford
to build competitive Navy, but does
not choose to do so, is accompanied bv
reminder that the United States did
most of the scrapping of naval con-
struction after the Washington confer
ence.
Policy to Be Continued.
The Coolidge speech means that there
Is to be continuity of American for
eign policy on the subject of Europe
and was intended to be word to the
rest OF the world that the election has
not In any sense affected the American
attitude, but If anything has strength
ened the demand for further parleys on
the armament question.
Copyright, 1927