Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-03
BRITAIN IS FEARFUL
OF FARLEY FAILURE
Apprehension Is Felt as
Opening of Naval Confer
ence Draws Near.
BY Radio to The Star and Chicago Daily
News. Copyright, $780,

~ Radio to The Star and Chicago Daily
News. Copyright, 1880.
LONDON, England, January s.
There are only three more weeks until
the representatives of the mightiest ma
tons in the world assemble in London
to discuss the all-important question Of
naval reductions. AS is natural for a
country where for centuries the navy
has been the pride and hope Of the
nation, some nervousness is displayed
here on the eve of this momentouS
meeting.
Most of the lingo journals as well as
some others have already denounced
Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald's
foolish policy of allowing the Ameri-
cans to dictate the kind of navy the
empire needs" They publish grave
warning" against the enormous dangers
tbs world will face in case the confer
ence fails. and mildly suggest that un-
less Mr.. Macdonald is absolutely GER
tain of success the conference should be
postponed before irreparable harm is
done.
Cannot Afford Failure.
This apprehension is only natural
There Is too much at stake this time
for responsible men not to be worried
From frequent conversations with men
In responsible positions. it is apparent
that Mr.. Macdonald and his political
and navy advisers are fully confident
OF the issue OF the London conference.
This country and its prime minister
cannot possibly afford failure.
Nobody among those behind the
scenes fears repetition of the Geneva
occurrence. In 1927 the situation, SO
far as Great Britain and the United
States were concerned, was totally dir
ferent from that of today. The Tory
administration had just emerged VIC
toriouS from the general strike and
was confident that the country would
enjoy speedy economic recovery. The
die-hardS were unanimous in believing
that Britannia should continue to rule
the waves, as she had been doing for
centuries, and were convinced that the
coming trade boom would enable Great
Britain to accept Americas challenge
to share her supremacy of the seas.
They were prepared to engage the
United States i'll naval building COM
petition. Many leading cabinet min
listers were urging liberal-minded STAN
ley Baldwin. then prime minister. to
keep stiff upper lip. because. they
SAID, public opinion in the United
States did not favor a big Navy
The situation now is completely
changed. The Labor administration is
fully aware that 1t will take at least 10
years before Great Britain will be eco
nomically recovered. And this will be
possible only If every cent that this
country has at its command is spent
JudiciouSly on constructive work and
not thrown away on ornaments.
On the other hand, Prime Minister
Macdonald returned from the United
States with the definite impression that
the people over there were genuinely
pacific, but that should the London
conference fail they would not hesitate
to authorize the administration to spend
all the money deemed necessary to
provide the United States with q strong
navy.
Mr.. Macdonald told his colleagues
and the naval experts that this was
their last chance, that Great Britain
had come to an understanding with the
United States and would share with
her the supremacy of the seas. He also
told them that If an agreement cannot
be reached, the United States undoubt-
edly will outbuild the most ambitious
program the British admiralS have In
mind. Mr.. Macdonald is personally ex-
tremcly anxious to conclude a friendly
agreement with all the powers, but if
this Is impossible he is determined TO
sign three-power agreement.
The home policies of the Labor gov
eminent have been a failure, and a
general election is expected either in
the Spring or Fall Mr.. Macdonald
wants to go before the electorate with
record on foreign affairs such as no
previous prime minister has had for
many generations. He consequently
must get the United States and Japan
to sign some sort of agreement.
The French attitude is worrying him
considerably, although not as much as
the Japanese. The French have told
the powers plainly that they will con-
slider the London conference only a pre-
liminary to general disarmament con-
ference to be held in Genera. II the
French cannot be induced to accept
Secretary of State Stimson's viewpoint
that naval agreement signed at Lon
don will be binding, Mr. macdonald in
tends to suggest that agreements
reached here should be subject to a
general disarmament conference, but
that they should be binding until that
conference is summoned.
Worried by Japanese.
The Japanese demands, however. are
worrying Mr.. Macdonald more. II the
United States is allowed to build Il
10,000-ton cruisers, the Japanese insist
on having IA, while Great Britain's
share would be only Is. If the United
States accept only Is, Japan's ratio will
be Is. that is, the same as Great
Britain'S.
Even then there is a good deal Of
opposition from Australia. The Aus
tralian government argues that the fig
ure is insufficient because, while Great
Britain will have cruisers scattered over
the seven seas, the entire japanese navy
will be concentrated in the Pacific.
The situation naturally presents many
difficulties, but Mr.. Macdonald is conf
dent that the japanese and American
delegates are animated by such spirit
Of good will that some compromise will
be worked out. Meantime, he will send
next Tuesday his trusted lieutenant,
Lord Thompson, to Paris to engage the
French minister of the navy in pre-
liminary conversations before Premier
Andre Tardieu comes to London for
final conversations with the prime