Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-15
NAVAL VIEWS OF 3
NATIONS UNKNOWN
Principal Question Concerns
Cooperation of France,
Italy and Japan.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

the progress towards me reductlon
of armament being made ~ the United
States and Great Britain is 80 substan-
tial that the principal question now Is
how much of the same spirit Of CO.
operation will contagiously affect
France, Italy and Japan at the forth
coming naval conference.
America and, Great Britain have
reached an agreement In principle.
Each government knows what the other
wants and that neither navy is arming
against the other. But reduction
downward on the part of both may
than for the British because as the
size of the two largest navies Is dim.
inished they come closer to the naval
power Of France, italy and Japan UNI
less these three powers make corre-
spending reductions.
Much to Be Settled.
Taking a leaf out of the book Of ex-
perience President Hoover and Premier
Macdonald have not reached an agree
ment On detail partly because there are
many contingent questions to be settled
and partly because 1t would be Had
advance of the conference an agreement
between Great Britain and the United
States which might appear to France,
Italy and Japan as q take-it-or -leave-it
proposition with nothing further to
negotiate. In the last Washington con-
ference friction arose because some OF
the delegates from countries other than
the United States felt that they had
been invited to q conference In which
everything had been cut and dried in
advance. ...
The main object Of the naval con-
ference is to accomplish q curtailment
of naval competition. 1t cannot pro-
vide a permanent measure Of future
armament because the value Of
weapons of warfare Is not measured In
tons but in the effectiveness Of inven.
tons and improvements, In gunfire and
speed Of craft as well as armor. The
use of the airplane and the dirigible
as well as the further use of the sub
marine makes 1t a much different At.
fair today to say what equality as be-
tween Great Britain and the United
States really Is as compared with the
discussion was about battleships and no
agreement could be reached on aux
Oiary craft.
Visit Conference Setting.
It begins to appear also that the visit
OF the British Premier TO the Wnlte
House will not take on the nature Of q
negotiation ct all but will be merely the
setting Of the stage for the naval con-
ference to follow. It is designed to
crystalline sentiment in both countries
on the importance Of reducing arma-
ment and II is hoped that the incident
will focus the attention Of the public In
France, Italy and Japan on the signifi-
canoe which the United States and
Great Britain attach to the whole sub
ject. Premier Macdonald is coming to
the United States largely as q gesture
Of friendliness and cooperation because
the work Of developing a yardstick OF
naval strength has been worked out by
the naval experts in consultation with
the President here and by numerous
exchanges with Ambassador Dawes and
Premier Macdonald in London. "a
It Is expected that an agreement on
the armament question will greatly en-
nance the prestige Of the Labor Gov
eminent in Great Britain just as Presi-
dent Hoover may derive analogous
benefit here as his administration day
by day reaches out for a stronger hold
on public opinion.
(Copyrisht. 1921