Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-26
, BY PAUL SCOTT MowRER.

PARISH would apparently be q
mistake TO believe that the Anglo
American naval compromise has in.
Sured the final success of the five-power
conference to be held at London next
January.
This compromise greatly diminishes
the chances Of failure, but many serious
difiiculties remain. The experts and
statesmen of the nations concerned are
now studying these difficulties with q
view to removing as many as possible
in advance by preliminary secret nego.
tiations. Exchanges Of views separately
among all concerned are about to begin.
The principal questions, which must re-
ceive satisfactory answers either now
or later, may be listed as follows:
Shall the conclusions OF the confer
ence, If successfully achieved, be bind.
ing and final. as the United States ana
Great Britain and perhaps Japan wish,
or shall they be contingent on gen.
eral disarmament agreement including
land and air forces, under the auspices
of the League of Nations, as France
and Italy wish?
shall naval limitation be made on the
basis of global tonnage, as France ana
italy still desire. or by categories, as
the United States. Great Britain ., ano
possibly Japan prefer, or shall there
be q reversion to the so-called French
compromise Of Geneva limiting by cate
kories, but permitting. under certain re-
strictions, the transfer Of tonnage from
one category to another, as France ana
italy desire and the United States
seems willing to consider?
Freedom Of the Seas.
Shall the freedom OF the seas be dis
cussed? It Is well known that the
British government, prior to Premier
Macdonald's visit to Washington, con-
sidered this the keystone of the whole
problem, as did also Senator Borah, but
at washington President Hoover and
Macdonald apparently agreed to open
separate secret and technical negotia-
tions on the subject at their future con-
venience. 1t is, therefore, now not
Great Britain and the United States
who want to discuss the freedom Of
the seas at London, but France, which
threatens to breach the topic. If, for
example, Great Britain and the United
States persist in their proposal to abol-
iSh submarines, or at least to abolish
big cruising submarines the French will
perhaps agree on condition that all the
seas be declared strictly neutral and
lighting forbidden outside territorial
waters.
Question Of Capital Ships.
Shall capital ships be discussed?
Shall the replacement program of the
capital ships laid down in the Wash
ington treaty be extended for reasons Of
economy? Shall the size Of capital ships
be gradually scaled down to, say, $1,000
tons instead Of $4,000 as now, on the
theory that the smaller ships would be
cheaper and just as good? Shall the
Washington ratios for capital ships be
~ ta Ar vTin
France and Italy insist henceforth on
hir''er percentages? Shall capital ships
be abolished altogether as France, In
answer to the Anglo American sugges-
ton about abolishing submarines, seems
to suggest?
What about cruisers? Shall they be
considered In two categories, those hav-
ing 8-inch and those having 6-inch
guns, as the Anglo-American compro-
mise purposes? Assuming Great Brit
| ain willing to content herself with Is
large cruisers, shall the United States
have 18, as Great Britain proposes, or
81, as the United States seems to desire?
Will Japan. France and italy be con-
| tented with IL, 8 and respectively,
which they now have built or are build
ing. and will Great Britain be satisfied
apiece2 Similarly, what shall be the
ratios in smaller type cruisers?
What about destroyers, which, in
reality, constitute another still smaller
| type of cruisers? What shall be their
maximum? What shall the destroyer
ratio of each country be?
Other Types of Ships.
What provision shall be made regard
ing the development Of still other types
of powerful surface fighting ships dur
| ing the term of the new treaty? Prog
reSS in naval shipbuilding Is rapid. Big
cruisers of today are to be more power
full than the capital ships ct the be-
| ginning Of the century. Germany has
Just produced q sensational new type
Of 10,00o-ton cruiser, armed with IL.