Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-05

Under our proposals we should have had
battle supremacy. but under the same
circumstances the British would have
had a superiority in the patrol field;
their more numerous smaller ships
would have enabled them to cover the
seas to control shipping. neutral and
enemy. as ours could not. A perfect solu-
ton would be an agreement upon so
many 10.000ton boats with 8-inch guns
and so many smaller boats carrying s.
inch guns. But, because of our widely
separated naval bases, we cannot use
smaller boats and, because of their, more
numerous bases and more extensive sea
lanes. the British do not need the larger
ships in great number and do require
the smaller in considerable number.
Now it is perfectly clear that men who
actually desire to reach an agreement
and are equally prepared to recognize
the right Of the other ma ton to equality
can sit down and work out system OF
adjustment. They can bring in all OF
the many factors, not alone tonnage and
caliber of guns, but speed, armament
and age of ships and all the other
technical elements and strike balance.
Hoover Sees Pitfalls.
But. on the other hand, it must be
seen that. even if the conferees are ami
be exceedingly difficult for them, charg-
ed as they are with guarding national
security. to agree upon the various per-
centages
This difficulty Mr. Hoover has seen
all along. He has, therefore, as MI.
Gibson's speech indicated, insisted that
the first step must be moral disarma-
ment In his judgment the great ques-
ton turns upon whether Great Britain
sees and will continue to see our naval
policy as identical with the German;
that is, whether the British people will
see in our course the disclosure OF a
repetition of the familiar circumstances
of traditional imperialism. Obviously If
the British people see our fleet as a
prospective foe and our policy as po-
litical challenge, agreement is going to
be out of the question.
On the other hand. if the notion of
conflict between the two nations is dis
missed, then technical details lose their
larger value and give and take adjust
ment becomes possible. Actual me
chanical parity in every direction is i'm
possible. One party will have more
ships, the other bigger boats. one will
have more bases ana more auxiliaries,
the other will have greater inherent Sc
curity A balance must be struck be-
tween not the same, bat different, cir
cumstances.
Here. Of course, lies the real danger
in the Hoover plan. If the Tory govern
ment should succeed at the polls this
month, if the admiralty group in the
Tory party which has hitherto domi-
mated should retain its hold, then the
discussion of technical details might be
prolonged indefinitely and the actual
difference in views and in necessities
inl1 kAn fn iV4M
opinion on both sides of the Atlantic.
Then We might hear again the familiar
charge that actually each side was seek
ing supremacy while talking Of partly.
Jt's Gamble.
Mr.. Hoover has chosen to gamble on
the possibility that despite the admir-
atty and the "Die-Hard" wing Of the
Tory party, the majority of the British
people desire. both reduction in the
costs of naval programs and the aboh-
ton of the existing dispute with the
United States. And he believes that 1t
is reduction, not limitation, which APP
pealS to all peoples, as it certainly does
to the American.
But while the American gesture at
Geneva certainly opens d new phase
in the discussion. it is certain to be a
long phase And success must turn
issue, as it is shaped by the British
election. and secondly on the practical
response that the new British govern
ment makes to the American proposal.
What is most important and most
hopeful in the Hoover gesture is the
fact that it represents an appeal for
new deal all around. 1t asks for
new spirit in the discussion and it dis
closes complete rejection of all the
familiar hypothesis of bad faith. In
effect. it invites the British government
to come forward with a proposal set
ting forth its conception of parity in the
secondary categories, since the Ameri-
can proposal of Geneva proved inaccep-
table. It indicates American readiness
to include other factors than those of
tonnage and, in fact, to join in any
square deal based upon the principle of
equality. And from whatever angle,
domestic or international, the Hoover
gesture is viewed, it must be perceived
that it is at once good diplomacy, good
faith and good sense.
Copyright. 1927