Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-21
DENIES DISCUSSING
FREEDOM OF SEAS
Sir Esme Howard Declares,
Through Stimson, Subject
Was Not Touched Upon.

surprise at the conference yesterday be-
tween Senator Borah and Sir Esme
Howard, the British Ambassador, in
which the subject of naval armament
is reported to have been discussed, Sec
rotary of State Stimson in reply to an
inquiry made the following statement:
The British Ambassador called on
me this morning to say in connection
with an article published today in a
morning newspaper to the effect that
he had had a conversation with Sem
ator Borah on the subject Of Freedom
of the Seas" that there is no founda-
ton whatever for that statement and
that the subject of freedom of the
seas" was not mentioned in any way,
either by Senator Borah or the British
Ambassador"
AS the result OF official and semi
oficial expressions of opinion here and
abroad, 1t became apparent today that
the success or failure of the new move
for naval reduction. instituted by Amer
lean Ambassador Dawes and Ramsay
Macdonald, British prime minister, will
depend altogether upon the ability of
statesmen and naval experts of this
country, Great Britain and the other
naval powers to find a common yard
stick, as proposed by President Hoover.
by which the naval strength of the ma
tons in capital and auxiliary craft may
be fairly measured.
Attention was turned to this vital
problem here, in Londan and Toxic
A spirit of optimism prevails with re-
spect to 1t, especially outside OF expert
naval circles. Naval technicians, while
admitting the possibility of agreeing
upon method Of accurately measuring
naval values, recognize the extreme
difficulties involved.
It was agreed in administration quar-
tiers here and abroad that the next
logical move OF a definite character,
looking toward actual reduction of
navies, must be q study of this yard
stick proposal. Once that is solved to
the satisfaction Of the Ave naval powers,
1t Is felt that the rest will be compare
lively easy.
Increase Of Speculation.
Meanwhile speculation increased re-
garding the next step In the informal
negotiations between Ambassador Dawes
and Prime Minister Macdonald, espe-
ctally with reference to the expected
visit of Mr.. Macdonald to. this country
for q conference with President Hoover
and the possibility of another naval
conference being called by President
Hoover or by the British government.
While the subject of the conference
between Secretary Stimson and the
British Ambassador was known to be
naval reduction, no details OF their con-
versation were available.
The fact that neither Ambassador
Dawes nor Prime Minister Macdonald
mentioned the freedom of the seas in
their speeches in Great Britain earlier
this week has led to the inference that
neither President Hoover. with whom
Mr.. Dawes conferred before his de-
parture, nor the new head Of the British
government want to endanger the pres
ent movement by complicating 1t with
that ticklish problem.
Security for Commerce.
Senator Borah has long held the view
that there can be no real progress to-
ward naval reduction until security is
provided for neutral commerce In time
Of war. He has expressed the opinion
that the United States will continue to
build q big navy so long as Great
Britain claims the right to be mistress
Of the seas. Therefore, while having
confidence in the judgment of AM
bassador Dawes and realizing the dim
culties which he and Mr.. Macdonald
have TO iron out Senator Borah Is dis
appointed that the freedom Of the seas
has been left out of the public discus
sion
Although neither Sir Esme Howard
nor Senator Bofah talked about their
conference, 1t was made plain that Sir
Esmes purpose was to seek the views Of
the chairman of the, foreign relations
committee and MOB to make any sugges-
tons to him.
Senator Borah did say after the con-
huf dA If
another armament conference here or
abroad. This corresponds with the view
In some quarters here that for the
present the preparatory disarmament
commission OF the League of Nations
offers adequate machinery for another
effort at naval reduction and that this
agency will be relied upon until the
present negotiations have made more
headway.
The dificulties confronting the naval
experts and statesmen in an effort to
ind q yardstick with which to measure
naval values are being freely discussed
in Washington among naval men and
in administration and congressional
circles. It Is recalled that the Wash
ington naval conference set up a new
way of measuring the standard of dis
placement, but found the measurement
Of fighting values infinitely harder to
estimate because so many of the factors
are themselves estimations. 1t is
doubted in many quarters whether 1t
will be possible to measure fighting
strength by a mathematical formula.
Referring to President Hoover's ref
erence in his Memorial day address to
the fact that the needs of a navy are
relative" naval experts say that states
men in the last analysis will have to
take the responsibility for deciding
what degree of RELATIVELY" the dif-
ferent naval powers will accept.
There already are indications that
Japan, while heartily willing to take
part in a new naval conference, will
continue to oppose the application of
the 5-5-3 battleship ratio Of the Wash
ington conference to all categories
Furthermore, there are indications that
France and Italy, as well as Japan
may insist that there Is minimum
for cruisers and other auxiliarieS, be-
low which they cannot afford to go. re-
CARELESS Of their relative strength in
these classes.
Japans cooperation in the latest
move for naval reduction was pledged
yesterday by Baron Tanaka, Japanese
premier. in conversations with Edwin
l., Neville, American charge at Toxic
In q message to the State Department
Mr.. Neville said the premier had in
formed him that Japan was prepared
to support measures looking to further
reduction Of ornaments and that Japan
wanted peace and lower expenditure
for military purposes. Although no de-
tails were available. the news that
Topau NAV he CONFIDENTLY co,lntad m