Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-11

relative power should war be forced
upon us. We involve ourselves in
no dangerous international commitment
, when we agree with other military and
naval powers to limit our own naval
construction to the extent to which
they agree 70 limit theirs. This is the
spirit, as take IL. of the London naval
treaty proposed by the President as the
result Of the conference at London and
which is now under consideration by
the Senate. Any conference OF this
character has some elements Of give
and tSke. In all three the nations
prir ally involved--England, Japan
an the United States-there are able
ar conscientious naval and other ex-
pelts who believe that their respective
countries are getting the worst of it
by the terms of this treaty. 1t is a fair
conclusion from such differences of
opinion that no nation is being worsted,
put that, on the contrary, in so far as
all three nations are securing the guar
anty that they are not to be outbuilt
beyond the parity basis agreed upon, all
get the best Of it. Under the London
treaty the United States will regain a
parity lost under the operations of the
Washington treaty We are to add sub
stantlally to our cruiser strength The
settlement of this question will remove
possible misunderstanding. 1t will stand
as landmark of progress toward world
an1lty in the record of the Hoover adj
mlnlStratlon. 1t is surprising to note
that some, though by no means all, of
those who cry loudly that this treaty
represents a sacrifice of national inter
ests Join their voices to those of some
40 foreign nations with higher tariffs
than our own in the demand that for
n ion INo IN ~,
economic invasion of our markets which
would impair that vigor of our indus
trial and agricultural structure which is
the most fundamental factor in ade-
quate national defense in either peace
or war.
Other Achievements.
Another contribution to better inter
national feeling was the settlement of
the last of our foreign debts growing
out of the World War. They were dis
posed of justly and generously to our
European debtors. but we rejected the
policy of reputation advocated both
here and abroad The money lent to
Europe came out of the pockets of the
American people. There was no good
reason why they should have paid all
the debt incurred in saving the allies
from defeat. especially in view of the
ldCL IildI, ALONE AMONG JIlt dllleu anu
associated powers. our Nation received
no indemnities and acquired no terri
tory The Hoover administration stood
for the sound policy of equitable settle
ment, and this has been effected.
Economic Depression.
With our enormous and unprece-
denied expansion of private credit, due
to time purchases, 1t had been generally
predicted that in case of any halt in
industry, or any serious financial dis
turbance, our credit structure would
come crashing to the ground in an I'M
precedented panic. No heavier blow
was ever struck at nations economic
and financial structure than the stock
market crash of last Autumn. l am not
on this occasion undertaking to discuss
the causes of this panic; they were in
ternational as well as national in char
acter and cannot by any stretch of the
imagination fairly be attributed to any
fault of the Hoover administration.
But for the prompt and statesman
like course of President Hoover this
panic would have produced conse-
quences far more disastrous than have
been experienced. He quickly assembled
the leaders of industry and with them
mapped out a program of activity, pub
lie and private. which has served to al
leviate the situation to marked degree.
The public buildings program was eX-
tended to more than a half billion dol
lars. affecting all parts of the country.
State and local officials were encour-
aged to expand, rather than contract.
public construction. Great industrial
agreed to build at time
when slowing down would have been
the usual course. Employment has thus
been guaranteed to hundreds of thou
sands of people who otherwise might
have been unemployed. while private
and public construction has secured
the benefit of lower costs through de-
creased commodity prices.
The Federal aid of Seventy-five mil
lion dollars in road construction has
been a further stimulus to employment,
besides adding to the Nations industrial
equipment. Complaint is made of lib
eral Federal participation in road con-
struction. No better contribution to the
Nations material and cultural progress
can be made than through the binding
together of all parts of our country with
a network of modern highways, which
would have been impossible to anything
like the extent rapidly achieved in re-
cent years without the encouragement
and assistance given through our ma
tional highway policy.
President Hoover believes that in the
solution of any national problem the