Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-12

"NOUGH time has now passed to
- permit the American public to
get a just and clear view OF
- the meaning of the French
note. which has fairly well de-
1ined the chief obstacles to any i'm
portant agreement at the London
Armament Conference. It remains tn
examine the possibilities for any agree
ment, however slight, which can still
emerge from a conference that has Its
field of action so restricted.
In substance, France has said that
she viii sign no agreement which can
IN any respect be interpreted as final
or definitive. For her, London Is to be
not terminal but a way station. All
that Is done at the British capital must
be subject to review and amendment at
Geneva. where 1t will pass under the
scrutiny Of the many smaller powers
not represented at London.
Thus. in fact. France serves notice
upon Britain and the United States,
but upon the United States primarily,
that the work of the organization Of
American notion Of conducting two
parallel enterprises of peace In the
world, the one under the color of the
League and in the spirit of the Cove
nant, the other in the name of the
Kellogg pact, will find in France a
consistent and determined opponent.
That the United States. Japan and
Britain, as the three greatest naval
powers, should meet to arrange be-
relative strength is for the French a
matter of complete indifference. But
that the three powers-and more par
ticularly the two English speaking
powers-should undertake to persuade
or coerce other nations to order their
naval establishments 80 as to At into
this tripartite system Is for the French
intolerable.
One French Peace Plan.
From the moment of the armistice
10 the present hour, France has con-
sistently maintained one thesis in the
matter Of peace and the subordinate
detail Of disarmament. Everywhere
and on all occasions French statesmen
have declared that the first step In the
assurance of peace is security and that
only when all nations unite In o COM
mon agreement, not alone to keep the
peace themselves, but to spend their
resources In the exercise OF police re-
straint Of any power resorting to vio-
1ence.
France today rejects the Kellogg pact
las at Paris she rejected the Covenant
Of the League of Nations-aS an ade-
quate guarantee of her security and of
security In the rest of the world. If
the United States and Great Britain
desire to bring about Sterilization Of
naval strengths In the world and are
eager that France should At her de-
Tense establishment to- their notions,
she asks directly that they agree to
guarantee her security.
When the United States rejected the
guarantee treaty Of Paris. France
turned to the creation Of system OF
alliances. Today she has associated
with herself practically all the armed
states of the continent, save italy and
Russia. And at the same moment she
turned to the reorganization of her
army to the end that she should pos
sess an army adequate to insure ma
tional security not otherwise estab-
ished.
But In the French military system
the navy plays great role, because
one-third Of the French army is per-
manently stationed In North and West
Africa, and, unless they can swiftly
and safely cross to Europe in time OF
war, France will be liable to invasion.
To insure this transportation France
asks q certain naval strength In the
Mediterranean, but If Britain and the
United States find that demal ire
COuCl4dDlC Will bklCn lOblOllD AAdfoA
tonnage, then France asks in exchange
the guarantee of Britain and the United
States that in time of war she shall
not suffer because she has reduced her
feet to satisfy their notions of naval
needs.
Nothing in Substance.
One must perceive, therefore, that the
meaning Of the French note is that
France will not sign a five-power pact
which can have even the remotest sub
stance. Moreover, she will not agree so
to regulate her own naval needs that
o three-power pact can have meaning,
because adjustment between the three
great naval powers must always turn
upon the British purpose to possess a
tonnage adequate to deal with the
combined fleets Of France and italy,
alike In cruisers and in submarines.
The full truth Of this is disclosed in
the English comment of all but the
Labor and Liberal journals upon the
French note. All with equal approval
paid to Tardieu the compliment of