Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-28
MORAL FORCE PLAN
|. FOR PEACE JOLTED
France Will Insist on Definite
Guarantees to Assure
Future Security.

The Utopian dream of world guided
by moral force as outlined in the
Hoover Macdonald statement last Oc-
tober has been shattered for the time
being by France.
The practical mind of French diplo-
macy has said in the latest memoran-
dunn that II Great Britain and the
United States wished to rely on moral
force as between themselves, that Is all
right, but France must have definite
guarantees and is going to rely on the
coercive clauses of the covenant of the
League of Nations or on future treaties
which restrain aggreSSor nations.
At first glance the French memoran-
dunn is a monkey wrench in the ma
chinery but actually it is the fore
runner of an independent position by
the Paris government which will cause
it to adhere only to such parts of the
forthcoming London Naval Conference
agreement as At in with her policy,
while at the same time expressing not
the slightest objection to any agree
mentS which the other naval powers
might wish to make as between them
selves.
This means that Great Britain, the
United States and Japan can have
naval treaty all their own, but that
French position has not materially
changed from what it was in the Wash
ington conference of 1922, when the
question of auxiliary craft was dis
cussed. The French are not so much
interested in battleships and cruisers as
they are in submarines and lighter war
vessels and in aerial defense as well as
land armament. They regard the
whole problem of armament as more or
less inseparable.
StimSOn Doctrine Rejected.
The announcement of the French
memorandum at this time is conSid-
cred a graceful act of friendship in
order that the whole world may not
regard France as obstructing progress
at the London conference in January.
Having set forth her position clearly
and having announced that the obsta-
cles are not insuperable, France in
effect asks the diplomats of the world
to put their minds together on posi-
BILE solution. Perhaps the most dis
appointing thing about the French pro-
nouncement is that Paris declines to
accept Secretary Stimson's doctrine of
moral force. Indeed, the French gov
eminent proclaims its great sympathy
with the Kellogg BRAND pact, but at
the same time warns the world that the
rational application" of moral force
has not yet been organized and that the
treaty sis undoubtedly a real step
toward the preservation of peace, but
it cannot be looked upon as sufficient
in its present state to guarantee the
security of nations"
If, therefore, the doctrine OF moral
force were for the moment set aside,
the London conference then would
turn to the practical problem of physi-
cal force and the measurement of
naval strength so that each nation vii!
have sufficient naval power to ward of
attack. The principle of parity having
been admitted as between the United
States and Great Britain, the question
arises as to what is sufficient strength
to Withstand attack by any third power
or group of powers. Mr.. Stimson has
publicly rejected the idea that Great
Britain and the United States have any
understanding with respect to combin-
ing their f1avieS, as was done in 1917.
The French point to the Mediterranean
as source of difficulty and plead for
new treaty Of peace there.
Diplomacy Is Challenged.
The frank statement on the part of
in advance of the London conference,
challenges the diplomacy of the whole
world and particularly the ingenuity
of the American delegation, which must
on the one hand defend the premise
that the United States is not interested
in the internal affairs of Europe, and
also maintain on the other hand stead
lastly the principle that the Kellogg
treaty and moral force is of prime i'm
portance so that naval strength can
without fear be correspondingly dimin-
ished.
The task of the American negotiators
Is made all the more difficult by the
viewpoint of France that the League
of Nations must be considered as the
true basis of European security and
that all agreements made must har-
monlze with the spirit and the letter
OF the covenant. The American dele
cation has before it monumental task
in trying to find a middle ground as
between the viewpoints of continental
Europe and the United States and while
there is no such sanguine feeling about
the outcome OF the London conference
as characterized the comments last Oc-
tober, 1t Is too early to say that the
London parley will end in a deadlock.
What probably will happen is that the
forthcoming conference will reduce the
area OF controversy as much as possible
and postpone until the next conference
the discussion of the points on which
an agreement was not reached. Con-
t1nuing international conferences have
been the rule for the last 10 years, but
the progress has been constant because
after each meeting the forces of public
opinion have been at work to reconcile
differences. d. L.