Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-12
Equal Naval Strength Be-
tween U. S. and Britain Is
Only Way, Senators Hear.
DIFFERENCE IN POWERS
POSITIONS is OUTLINED
Hoover's Attitude in Leaving Ne.
gotiations to Delegation Is
Praised by Secretary.
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN.

american navies, laid down In the naval
treaty, was defended by Secretary
stimson today, appearing before the
senate foreign relations COMMITTEES. az
both fair and practical.
We figured that parity meant eU,.,
naval strength between the two aeets"
said Secretary stimson. In our opinion
tnat Is the only practical way to arrive
at parity. Some people have argued
That this is not sufficient; that Great
Britain has more naval bases and g
greater versatility of tonnage. On the
otner hand, If we should insist unon
gong into such subjects, Great Britain
would turn around and say to us that
Britain is an insular power, with In.
suncient food supplies and dependent
which America can depend upon her
self. The British, furthermore. would
say that they have powerful neirhbors
at tner back door, while America has
none. --N0
Safe for This Country.
III you insist upon going into these
quesuonS, said Secretary Stimson, en-
pnatcally, you will never get parity.
you cannot appraise the value of these
considerations in terms of each other.
The only thing you can do Is to meas
ure the actual strength of the two
navies.
1T Is safe standard, 80 far O. this
country Is concerned"
Secretary Stin1son referred to criti-
c1sms Of the treaty made by those who
say that the United States needs only
the larger 10,000-ton cruisers, while the
British desire smaller cruisers.
He said that this criticism was not
justified.
Secretary Stimson's appearance be-
fore the foreign relations Committee
today marked the first Of the public
hearings which will be held by that
committee before the treaty is reported
to the Senate for its consideration, At
the outset of the hearing, Chairman
Borah OF the foreign relations commit
zee announced to Secretary Stimson
tnat the treaty was now before the COM
mittee, and that the committee would
be glad to have his views upon It. The
committee room. the large minority
room in the Senate Office Building. was
well filled with visitors and practically
all members Of the foreign relations
committee were present when Mr.. Slim
son began his statement.
Attitude Of Others Is Commented On.
''The American delegation went to
LONDON TO the naval conference without
any specific instructions from President
Hoover" said Secretary Stimson, dis
cussing the method which had been
employed In conducting the negotiations
leading up to the treaty. I'VE knew
his general view, for we had had con-
ferenceS with him before we left
Washington. The President preferred
to trust the delegation to use its owr
discretion in matters of negotiation.
This is very different from the atti-
tude Of many of our fellow countrymen.
who did not hesitate to advise us by
cable what to do. The one man who
had the right to instruct us, however,
left matters in our hands. For this the
members of the American delegation,
can say, were profoundly gratified. It
was difficult situation in London,
changing from day to day, and the
method Of the President was the only
way to handle it.
If any mistakes were made the re-
sponsibility for them rests with the
American delegation"
Secretary Stimson, referring to radio
address made from London by Senator
~.
declared that Senator Robinson had
stated concisely the Interpretation of
the entire American delegation in Lon
don. Mr.. Stimson said that there were
two distinct naval problems before the
London Conference. The first. he said
related to the navies Of the Unrvea
States, Great Britain and Japan. thu
oceanic powers" as they were referred
to at the conference. The second prob
lem he said related to the navies of
Great Britain, France and italy, the
European powers" The two problems
he said were related to each other only
by the fact that Great Britain was a
party to both.
UnwOrried by Italy or France.
$50 far as the American Nav is
said Secretary StimSon, 1--WE
are not concerned in the naval con-
Struction of either France or italy In
any direct sense. We are concerned in
1t only as 1t affects the British navy, l
think this is equally true of Japan.
"Of these two problems, the first, the
oceanic problem, We reached complete
solution and agreement It was the
other problem, involving Great Britain.
France and Italy, In which only q par
tial solution was reached, with no COM
plete agreement"
Mr.. Stimson said that the work of
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