Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-08

BOSTON, November z (N.A.N.A)--
Disarmament among the nations OF
the world, to constitute any worth
while guarantee of world peace, must
include measures to prevent secret in
dustrial notifications.
Decentralization of the European
systems of transportation and COM
munication is the means, and the only
means, to forestal such mobillzations.
The international publicity which would
be the natural result of such Set-up
would prove a permanent and suthclent
guarantee of good faith.
The three major agencies OF trans
portation and communication-u) ar
plane routes, co railroads, and 80
steamShips-aS at present constituted
and operated, are essentially the basis
of prevailing Continental turmoil. They
are the means of the secret aSsemblage
of war equipment, the training OF air
pilots and the accumulation OF sea
forces. all under the guise OF peace
time activities, but readily convertible
to military purposes.
Arms Cuts Not Enough.
Disarmament in the sense of scrap
ping battleshipS and reducing army per-
sonnet and equipment does not remove
the causes of war, neither does 1t in
sure peace. Decreasing the relative war
strength of nations may be an excellent
thing for their budgets, and as an eco
nomic move is seldom disputed; but as
war preventive its value is decidedly
low.
In the past the relative strength of
nation could be measured accurately
by such things as the number OF troops
under arms, the number of guns and
the stores of ammunition and prov1-
SionS. Now, due to what I might call
the industrialization of war, the real
strength of a nation is much more de-
pendent upon its resources OF raw ma
terialS, the facility with which 1t can
transform those resources into war
products and transport them to the
theater of operations and the extent of
development of previously LAID plans
for Industrial mobilization.
A result of these new war conditions
is that country may allocate in It's
budget stupenoous sums of money Tor
various classes of public works which
in normal times may have all the APP
pearance of peace activities, but which,
If war threatens, may speedily be con-
verified into martial operations OF major
importance.
Training Many Pilots.
It is undisputed that the European
coutries which should be included in
this plan of Observation-Disclosures are
now expanding vast sums on the de-
velopment of so-called commercial air
lines and the training of pilots-all of
tremendous potential value in war time.
They are building strategic railroad
lines, functions, depotS and equipment,
most of which are useless and unpro-
ductiove under ordinary conditions but
important as war organization.
Shipyards are turning out ocean
going liners, designed for commercial
uses, but which with little difficulty
may be converted into auxiliary cruisers
or airplane carriers. 1t is no secret
that two of the swiftest liners built in
recent years are so constructed as to
be of greatest value when converted
for war purposes.
1t stands to reason that one nation
in position to mobilize secretly the
largest number of airplaneS. railroad
cars and ocean shipping would have a
tremendous advantage in the event of
war or threat of war.
1t is my idea to merge all European
airplane lines into one or probably two
systems, international in character and
ownership; to place ocean shipping on
a decidedly more international basis,
eliminating wasteful Implications of
both sailings and dock facilities, and
later to undertake the more difficult
task of internationaliZing the European
railroads.
Debt Link Possible.