Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-14

morrow. Nominally the commission
has at least three questions to
oeal with. There is first of all the fam
tastic Russian proposal, made a year
ago, which enviSages immediate and
complete disarmament. In addition are
naval and reserve disputes, which con-
Germ the United States and Great
Britain, and France and Germany re-
spectively
The Russian proposal is at once alb
Surd and annoying. No one believes
that 1t was offered in good faith or for
any other purpose than to embarraSs the
representatives of the various other
countries. 1t is difficult thing for
these representatives to have to confront
their own peoples and the world in gen.
erai, year after year, without a single
result to show for endless and amending
conferences. When Litvinoff quite the
atrlcally proposed last year that the
way to diSarm was to disarm, he at
least touched popular chord. Even
those who recognized his insincerity
were amused by the endorsements he
caused.
No general or concerted program of
disarmament is at present possible in
Europe, because at bottom the old ia
n11liar atmosphere OF diStrust still per-
A~AO0AAy oRCoAAIS IIO Is
today seriously afraid of any immediate
attack by a neighbor No government
OF any country great or small, would
run the risks incident to undertaking
70 lead its people to war. The exhaus-
ton incident to the last great struggle
is still sufficiently strong and the recol-
lect1ons Of sufferings are still poignant
enough to prevent this.
Carv,aar, T. n.e..I.
But on tine other hand it is just as
clear that no nation trusts the future
sufficiently to lay aside arms. Germany.
to be sure, is now in a state of prac-
tical defenSeleSsness. It has the best
army Of its size in the world and could.
In a relatively brief time. expand it
into an effective machine. But Germany
st1ll lacks the heavy artillery and tanks
TO make war and is unlikely to attempt
10 create them as long as her territory
is occupied by allied armies. These
armies of occupation must go before
long. And when they go there will be
q new situation.
That a Germany of 65,000.O00 peo-
pie, when it again RECEIVERS complete in
dependence, will consent to remain prac-
tlcally helpless in the face not merely
of France but of either Poland or
Czechoslovakia, which have conscript
armies limited only by their cannon fod-
der while the reich is condemned to a
volunteer army of 100000, is an absurd
lty on the face of it, Either the sur
rounding nations will have to agree to
disarm down to the German level or
Germany will insist upon arming up to
their level
Yet at the moment France and her
allies are determined to stay armed in
order to insure that Germany shall re-
main relatively disarmed; as a conse-
quence all discussions of disarmament
lead to nothing. Moreover. the position
OF France and her smaller allies, and
OF Italy as we'll, has been enormously
strengthened by the British course in
accepting the Anglo-French naval pact.
Ever since the war Britain, like Ger
many and the United States has been
insisting that reServeS-that is, the con-
scripts who have served their time with
the colors and become trained soldiers
shall be counted in reckoning the mill
tary strength Of country. France and
all conScript nations have resisted this
thesis. which would result in crediting
France, for example, with an army of
upward of 100000.
Won't Give Up Conscripts.
But in the Anglo-French compact
Britain agreed to drop her contention.
In abandoning this thesis she actually
yielded to the fact, which was that
there was not the smallest possibility
OF persuading France or any other con-
script nation to give up its stand. But
on the other hand she also abandoned
all hope of some later change of mind
Now, although American protests over
the naval detail has resulted. in the
practical abandonment of the Anglo
French pact, Britain can no longer,
with conviction, present its old argu-
mentS
In return for British acceptance of
the French thesis about reserves, it will
be recalled that the French adopted
the British contention that naval
strength should be measured, not by
total tonnage, but by categories. This
meant that instead of alloting say 300.-
900 tons of cruisers to Britain and to
the United States and allowing each to
decide what size ships it would build,
up to the 10,000-ton limit fixed at
Washington, there should be at least
two categories, so many 1o,ooo-ton
boats with 8-inch guns and so many
smaller boats with 6-inch guns.
What this deal amounted to was, in
fact, a British agreement to accept a
French thesis about reserves, which
would insure French military supremacy
on the continent indefinitely, and a
French acceptance of British thesis,
which was the thesis proposed by
Britain at the Geneva Conference, and
would, in effect continue British naval
supremacy. Now, American protest and
British public sentiment have prac-
tically abolished the pact, which was
only conditionally agreed to, and it
seems hardly likely that it will come
up again in any form.
It is, however, patent that the French
view as to military matters and the
British as to naval for the present pre-
France, supported by Poland, Czecho-
slovakia. Jugoslavia and Rumania, as
well as tacitly by Italy, insists upon the
T-sining of all the male population to
bear arms. It Is true that the French
have steadily reduced the term of serv-
ice with the colors until 1t Is now one
year, instead of three, as In 1914; but,
nevertheless, upon mobilization France
could call up millions of trained troops,
expanding her standing army from
100000 to 100000. with the same ease
as in 1914
AnG no real progress can be made
"A the lmlJaLlOn OF mlllLaTy drmdmenlS
as lst1g as the conscript principle re-
raatsis. Obviously if country is able
te call up two or three millions of men
at the moment war seems likely, the
fact that the number Of troops actually
under arms is but quarter or Sfth
of this number Is not too important, for
guns and material for the balance are
always on hand. Actually, the strength
Of q military establishment must be
measured by the number of men 1t can
put in the field at the moment Of war,
not the number which happens to be
under training at any given moment.
Germany and Russia, for obvious
reasons, must strive to bring about
drastic limitations Germany. because
she is surrounded by conscript nations
Russia, because strong national armies
are q patent obstacle to her program
of overthroWipg all national govern
4. - IL fesAfA