Evening star., 1932-11-23
FRANCE AND ITALY
RENEW NAVY TALKS
American Intervention Re-
wives Hope of Five-PoWer
Treaty Instead of Three.
BY PAUL SCOTT MowRER.

BY Cable to The Star.
GENEVA, Switzerland, November 23
Franco Italian naval negotiations, re-
opened recently under the friendly aus
pices of the. United States, took what
Is described as a favorable turn today.
There Is apparently once more real
hope Of completing the London naval
treaty. Japan, Great Britain and the
United States are in it, but France and
, Italy remain to join.
This, at least. Is the ambition which
the American delegation here seems to
have set for itself. The theory is that
1t Is essential, to get France and Italy
into the London treaty before any
progress can be made on the more
sweeping. but also more complicated
naval proposals of the Hoover disarma-
ment plan.
OF Interest to America.
Events since the London Conference
of 1880 are considered to have demon
strated that this completion of the
London treaty is, from every point of
view, not merely of European, but dis
tinctly Of American interest. Some OBJ
servers even feel that our whole future
naval policy depends a good deal on
the Franco Italian negotiations, for the
British are making the size of their
navy contingent on the size of the
French and Italian navies. 1t is felt
that japan might be more willing to
be satisfied with its present ratio in the
five-power treaty when the time comes
for revision, in 1885, than if there still
were merely three-power treaty.
In Washington the hope has been
that the United States could, neverthe-
less, leave the Franco-I Italian difficulties
to Great Britain'S good offices and keep
the Americans clear thereof.
But, in the first place, nearly two
years have now elapsed since the Lon
don Conference and Great Britain has
not yet succeeded in bringing France
and Italy into the fold.
Great Britain Not Interested?
In the second place, there have been
whispers from both French and Italian
sources that perhaps fundamentally
Great Britain, which itself has the larg-
est fleet in the Mediterranean, is not
greatly interested in bringing about
Franco-Italian agreement, the more so
as such an agreement might be used by
the United States as motive for max
ing further reductions on Great Britain.
These whispers, however unjust they
may be, are undoubtedly current.
In any case, the United States ap-
pears recently to have decided to ex-
anime the situation for itself, not Ger
tainly with the intention OF mixing in
European affairs, but merely to ascer-
tain whether in the American interest
Washington might not be able to dis
cover some formula for a Franco
Italian agreement.
Norman H. Davis and Allen w.
Dulles, American experts, have had
talks on the subject, first in Paris and
then in Rome. These talks have been
pursued here among American, French
and Italian naval experts. British ex-
pertS also have arrived and are being
kept informed of all steps in the ne
gotiations.
New Start Suggested.
Both the Italians and the French
seem to feel the utmost confidence in
the impartiality of the American view
point. The American experts, after due
consideration, seem to have felt that
it will be better to drop the previous
Franco-Italian formulas and make a
fresh start.
What the United States is rumored
to have suggested Is simply a four
year agreement on building programs
at the lowest possible levels and with
out consideration for ratios or trouble
some questions Of principle
Both France and Italy have mani
tested a gratifying disposition to ne
gotiate on this basis. The French ex-
perts returned from Paris today with
the French reply to the latest Italian
offer and are believed to have deliv-
cred it verbally to Dulles and Rear Ad-
mirel Arthur j. Hepburn, Navy Depart
ment expert, at noon today.
Sentiment in American circles here
appears to be optimistic.
(Copyright, 1922