The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1930-01-09
HOOVER CONFIDENT
NAVIES WILL BE CUT
United States Will Be Strong.
ly Represented at London
Farley Jan. 20
CONFLICTING DEMANDS
Delegates Were Given Final
Instructions at a White
House Dinner

Washington, Jan. 6-4Whatever
may be the ground for H. the ma
TONS capital is inclined to be OPP
agreement as the American delega-
ton prepares to leave Thursday
for the London conference.
Neither President Herbert TToO-
yer nor any of the delegates has
conceded that the French, Italian
and Japanese demands are insur-
mountable obstacles and hence
have refused to, discuss three
power or a four power agreement
which would be contingent on fail
ure of the five invited nations to
agree.
The administrators air of con-
fidence in the face of the develop
ments of the last two weeks is
thought to be significant of reas'
surfing information not known to
the public. 1t appears to be re-
f1ected more or less on Capitol
Hill, where the immediate reaction
to the French note was not nearly
SO reassuring.
Senator William E. Borah, chair
man Of the foreign relations conf
mittee, who talked with the Pres
ident recently, declared he was
among those who expect some
thing will be accomplished III the
London parley, which is to open
January 81.
at may not be as much AS they
hoped for in the beginning con-
sidering the various differences in
national viewpoint to be reconcil-
ed" said the senator, "hut + do
expect good results" presumably
from a five-power conference"
He has shared the view express
ed in the French note that a dis
armament agreement presnpposes
an agreement on the freedom of
the seas defining the rights of neu
trails in wartime, a subject which
President Hoover and j. Ramsay
Macdonald, prime minister OF
Great Britain, are -unwilling to
take up in the London conference.
President Hoover has not given
up his hope of reducing as well as
limiting the navies Of the world by
this conference, which must also
put American and British auxiliary
fleets on equal footing. He is by
no means discouraged about a
cruiser agreement, as some unof-
ments have been.
His final instructions to the five
members of the American delesa-
ton on this side of the Atlantic
will be given at a breakfast con-
ference Tuesday, if, indeed, they
may be anticipated as instructions.
Henry L. Stimson. secretary of
state, chairman of the delegation,
has been in almost daily contact
with the President, and it is
through him that the delegates
principally have learned the ad-
illustrators views.
The President and Mr.. Stimson.
if not the entire delegation, have
studied carefully all the French.
japanese and italian demands, and
still are unwilling to concede they
have seriously impaired the chanc-
es of an agreement. If they have
caused the President to modify his
aims, there has been no Indication
of it.
Yet it is admitted the path ahead
is not one of roses and that vital
hazards must be passed.
It cannot be said that there is
anything like unanimity in the
Washington view Of the outlook for
five power agreement. Some in
formed quarters have become in
creasingly dubious about it but the
prevailing view in official circles
is more or less optimistic for q. sub
stantial agreement, even though it
may not meet the Presidents orig
inal hopes.
Without attempting to forecast
success or failure of the confer
ence, Raymond Leslie Buell., lin a
pamphlet issued by the Fore ign
Policy Association, listed four ma
jor obstacles, as follows:
Anglo-American differences over
cruiser parity.
The Japanese demand for ra-
ion of 70 per cent in auxiliary ves-
sells.
Italys demands for parity with
France.
The relation of France to the
naval question as a whole.
There is reason to believe Presi-
dent Hoover and Secretary Slim
son see a way around each Of
these obstacles.