Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-13
FEARS NAVAL RACE
IF PACT IS DELAYED
Stimson, in Forum Address,
Says Postponement Would
Void 10 Years Work.
Continued From First Page)

movement has just eliminated in the
London naval treaty of 1880, and that
treaty is now pending before the gov
ernmentS of the United States, Great
Britain, Japan, France and Italy for
ratification. To understand the issues
which are thus presented to the peoples
Of these countries it is necessary to
survey the background and history out
Of which this movement and this treaty
have arisen.
The causes of this movement date
back to the great war. When that war
ended the United States was finishing a
great navy, which had been authorized
in order to place America in position
to defend itself against the possible
attacks of German militariSm if that
force should succeed in dominating
Europe. The British nation had like
wise a large navy. which had been in
Creased by the necessities of the war.
The japanese navy had also been az
fected by the situation before and dur
ing the war. After the war was ended
and German imperial militariSm had
been succeeded by a peaceful republic,
new condition arose. Nearly all the
nations of the world had been engaged
in the war and all of them were hum
Cry for peace. The large navieS which
had been created for the eXigencies of
the war had become not only unneceS-
Sary but an actual source of danger.
as we'll as involving a great burden OF
cost. Their size was sufficiently great
to suggest the constant possibility OF
offensive action. The contemplation of
this possibility produced continual iri-
tatlon between the various countries.
1t was primarily to remove this that
the American Government called the
Washington conference and at that
conference led in the formulation OF
the Washington treaty of 1922.
Great Victory of Peace.
This conference was one of the great
victories of peace. 1t demonstrated a
specific method of working for peace by
naval limitation, and it convinced the
world that this method was practical
and efficient. 1t is true that prior to
that date there had been treaties Of
naval limitation, and they had been
very successful. For over one hundred
years the experience of the United
States and Canada with the Rush Bagot
agreement, which limited WarShipS upon
q the Great Lakes of America, had shown
that this arrangement contributed
greatly to the good relations between
; those countries. Similarly, in 1902 the
: republics of Argentina and Chile had
found a treaty Of naval limitation a
potent help i'll solving the difficulties
that had arisen over their boundary
line. and with its aid had succeeded in
1naugurating a new era of friendly re-
lationS, which still exists. But neither
OF these instances. striking and impor-
tant as they We're had affected enough
nations of the world to have brought
this method of preserving peace into
general recognition. The Washington
treaty Of 1922 did this. 1t convinced
the world that naval limitation was
possible, and directed the conscience of
the world toward an inSlStence upon
such limitation. Although it only sue
>ceeded in arreSting competition in two
classes of warshipS-the battleShip and
the aircraft carrier-it commenced a
movement for further limitation which
will not cease until all naval cOmpeti-
ton has been arrested. 1t not only
did this. but it had an immediate bene-
fetal effect upon the relations of the
nations which participated in it, par
ticularly of the United States and ia
pan. Prior to the Washington treaty
there had grown up in these countries,
which we're both engaged in building
great fleets of battleShipS, spirit of
suspicion and distrust. irresponsible
people in both nations were beginning
to talk of the possibility Of war. The
Washington treaty. ending not only the
competition in battleShipS but also pro-
viding that neither nation should In
crease their Notifications and naval
bases in certain regions, put stop to
this growing i'll will. The Willingness
of both parties TO make SacrltceS i'll
armament ended the tendency to look
upon each other as possible enemies
and make possible the beginning OF
new era of good will.
But in spite of these great successes
the washington Conference left loop
hole for future trouble. Only two
kinds OF warships were limited: cruisers,
destroyerS and submarines were not.
After the conference adjourned COM
petition began III Europe in these I'M
regulated types, and, as always happens,
that competition gradually spread 10
other nations No less than seven in !
ternational meetings were called. one
after another, for the purpose, either
directly or indirectly, OF meeting this
situation and trying to close the loop (
hole Six of these were meetings OF the
Preparatory Commission of the League
of Nations. and the seventh was the
three-poWer conference OF America, !
at Geneva in 1927. None of them was |
successful, and the failures, together
with the increasing competition in these
three classes of warshipS, tended to
rouse again a spirit of friction and Ill
will. Between the United States and
Britain it became particularly noLlce-
able and unfortunate, and it became
evident that the governments OF both
nations should take steps to check its
growth.
Failed to Remove Danger.
The fact that at this very time viz
tually all the nations of the world had
entered into a solemn covenant in the
pact of Paris, the so-called Kellogg
BRAND pact, to renounce war as an in
strument of national policy and in flu
ture to solve their controversies only by
pacific means, did not OF itself remove
the danger which was being created by
naval competition. True, the eXecu- |
ton of that instrument was vitality
important event. 1t laid down new
international policy, and 1t had behind
it a general and overwhelming popular
support. 1t proposed a new era, but
new eras do not come out of old con- !
ditions merely by virtue of good reso-
buttons for the future. To cure evils
which have been created by mischiev-
GUS conditions the conditions them
selves must be changed. In order to
create a situation where no nation will
resort to war as an instrument OF ma
tional policy there must be established,
In addition to the promise not to make
war. a larger measure of confidence
- 49, LII IA