Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-16
BY FRANK H. sIMONDs.

ONDON-At the close of the
fourth week of the London Con-
ference it is now possible to speak
IL with a certain deflniteness about
one aspect of the question in
volved, and that is the Anglo American
phase. During the month which have
been in England it has been my good
fortune to come in contact with almost
every element of national opinion, ex-
tending from the Tory to the very Left
Labor. And from this experience have
drawn certain conclusions.
In the first place it seems clear, be-
yond any shadow of doubt that the idea
of parity with the United States in all
departments of naval craft has been
completely accepted, if one except the
small fraction of the so-called Tory
and admiralty opinion, which is not i'm
portant or inf1uential-Save in the eX-
traOrdinary circumstances of the people
who have as a whole not merely ac-
cepted the idea of real parity but have
dismissed from their minds the notion
of any menace themselves in the DOS
session by the United States of fleet
so strong that. combined with that of
any other naval power, it could domi-
nate the seas.
What now exists represents very real
change from the state of mind found
here in the first days after the futile
SEllGNd AOlLlGkGllCG. was a
sense of evaporation and resentment
and for moment vague, uneasy feel
ing that the American menace had in it
something still familiar of the German
danger of the pre-war period.
British Feel No Concern.
The British people then have accepted
the idea OF American parity with prac-
tical unanimity because they have come
10 the sound, solid conviction that Amer
lean naval strength is without menace
Or even concern for themselves. If there
were simple question of arranging the
American and British fleets, do not be-
lieve / per cent of the British public
would pay the smallest attention to any
protests which might come from the adj
mlralty alleging that there was a pre-
ponderance of gun power, speed or
armor in the American fleet
Unhappily no such situation exists
To take a simple illustration it will be
recalled that at the Rapidan Hoover
and Macdonald reached a tentative
agreement which fixed at Is the British
number of large cruisers and left open
the question whether we should have 18
or 81. When, however, the American
delegation came to London it was met
with the fiat statement that Great Brit
am could not accept larger figure and
must choose between breaking off the
conference and coming down to Is.
Our agreement to the British de-
mand has been in many quarters rep
resented as surrender to Great Brit
ain, as it was obviously a complete sur
render of our Geneva position. But
the alternative of breaking up the con-
ference arose from the fact that if we
had 81, Japan would either have IS.
which she claimed. or IS, which she
had obtained under the Washington
ratio. And this number, amounting to
parity and strategic superiority over
Britain, would awaken such a protest
In Australia and New Zealand as to
make impossible its acceptance by any
British government
In this situation Macdonald had no
choice, but the controlling circum-
stance was not the opposition of the
British admiralty to the American 81.
but the dominating Australian appre-
hension Of the japanese Is. We did
not surrender to Britain, but to Aus
tralia. But Britain herself could not
surrender without arousing an imperial
storm at the precise moment when a
tremendous movement was on foot here
to strengthen the bonds of empire.
Against New Construction.
The same situation obtains in the
matter of the unlucky demand of an
duolIlOIldI fSOQIley OF Nelson 10 pal
ance the battle feet. Despite the sus-
picions of some of our naval authori-
ties do not believe the British public
cares tuppence whether we have an
extra capital ship of the newest design
or not. But they do most emphati-
cally oppose the reopening of period
of battleship construction which would
certainly tempt Japan to new enter
prise of a similar nature
The real difficulty lies nf co,irce ",
the fact that the United States is
thinking of parity in the simple rela-
ton of British and American fleets,
and the Briton is thinking of it in
terms of his own security in the face
of Japan. France and Italy. While the
Briton does emphaticalIy rule out all
thought of an Anglo-American war. he
has not been able to rid himself of a
haunting fear of possible collision with
Erance and Italy in the AGaditnrra rnar,