Evening star., 1932-02-09
3y the Associated Press,

World Conference on the limitation
and reduction Of ornaments with the
determination to leave nothing unoone
to achieve substantial progress. 1t as
sumes that the same will predominates
among all the nations represented IN
this conference. Nothing Is contributed
to our deliberations, indeed our enorts
are only clouded with insincerity and
pretense, If we fail to acknowledge the
difficulties which just now surround the
project before us. The part of state
craft Is, however, neither to gloss over
difficulties and thereby contribute to de-
| feat, nor to invite despair by over
emphasis on the difficulties in the fore
ground.
THE situation demands calm consid-
Grafton of the facts as they exist and
courageous efforts to obtain a sub
stantial solution. The impedimentS are
familiar to the most elementary OBJ
server of international affairs Of this
kind. Me meet with the necessity OF
co-ordinating motives and maturing
larger than has ever before been assem-
bled We meet under the strain of
economic distresses, international un-
| certaintieS and popular emotions which
might easily engulf anything smaller In
stature than the cause presented here.
Warns Against Technicalities.
"Our conference must not be diverted
from achieving success on the vital
I questions by minor differences Of
technical nature. The task before the
| nations of the world is not to minimize
these problems but, fully mindful of
mination from the conviction that the
md frp Nf ty,ta ,aff a1
confidence, cooperation and peace will
in the end have its way; that the men
and nations Of our own day who con-
tribute to 1t will be counted In the end
! as enrolled in a victorious cause, and
that in the long perspective of history
occupied with smaller interests will
stand only as temporary impedimentS
to world wide and inevitable move
ment.
The people Of the United States
have during the past generation played
a useful and leading part in the move
ment for the limitation and reduction
Of arms. The Washington Conference
Of 1922 made the first concrete contri-
button in voluntary limitation. 1t met
! the then existing problem of arma-
ment at its most acute. its most threat
ening and its most conspicuous point,
and by a restriction of naval arma-
ment among the powers who found
themselves setting an unhappy exam
pie, made long and decisive stride in
the direction demanded by world opin-
ion. Our people at that conference
sacrificed, If not a real predominance,
at least a potential predominance in
weight and strength of warfare. The
American people have been proud of
the contribution which they made to
that pact of temperate conduct and
common sense.
In the London naval conference of
1890 the principle Of limitation estab-
lished for capital ships at the Wash
ington meeting was enlarged to cover
the whole field of equipment for war
fare at sea by the three most heavily
armed of the nations, and some
progress was made toward including
| the two other powers most concerned.
We enter the conference today with the
practicability of the limitation upon
arms established, with the demand for
it augmented by general pride and sat-
isfaction in the achievement already
made, and with the United States again
willing to play its appropriate part In
further progress.
Arms Threaten Civilization.
"The American delegation is prepared
to consider any form Of military limita-
ton and reduction which promises real
progress toward the feeling Of interna-
tional security, protection against sur
prise and restraint on the use OF arms
for purposes of aggression.
"The burden and dangers OF the
gigantic machinery Of warfare which
are now being maintained in times OF
peace have reached point Where tney
| threaten civilization itself. For Two
years past the people OF every race
have been confronted with an economic
crisis from which no nation mas peen
free. All the governments OF the Worio
have faced reduction OF income. unset
tied budgets, and dangers to the very
stability of government itself
"The United States, while seriously
affected by these difficulties, has sui
fered somewhat less severely than many
of the other. nations. 1t Is to-day aole
to maintain the burden of armament
as readily as any of the nations, but 1t
views that burden as unnecessary ana
inexcusable No one will doubt the
political instability Of the world OF
which these arms are not alone the
effect but also the cause. No one Will
doubt that they not only contribute 10
the economic debacle but that they
|
American people look upon the states
manship which permits the continu-
ance of existing conditions as nothing
less than failure. The time has gone
bv when the peoples of the world will
long permit the continuance OF this
failure.
Must Change Traditions.
"There is a feeling sometimes ex-
pressed that the convictions of the
United States in this field, the faith of
our people in an orderly and stable
regime among the nations, and our
conviction that the very existence OF
armaments unbalances the equilibrium,
are a product of our geographical 1so-
| lation and Cf our lack Of experience OF
and exposure to the rivalries and
strains of the European continent. In
answer. the American people point to
the fact that the system of compet1-
tive armament, of alliances and cross
! alliances which has existed for CEN
! turies in Europe has failed to maintain
peace and seems indeed to have been
provocative of war, the results Of
which are such that victors and van
uuished are victims alike.
Furthermore, the altered condi-
tions of international relationships, the
| development of communication and
transport within the last generation to
a point where the whole world is knit
together by strands of commerce.
finance and intimate contact, have to-
: day produced new international rela-
tionships which are utterly incon-
sistent with the older methods and
formulas. America is convinced that
| the world should not go on to new
movements and new tasks hampered by
! the garments of an older regime and
(! that the problem is only how promptly
and smoothly mankind will cast aside
, the weapons and traditions Of the old.
I'm the past every nation has justi-
fed its level of armament. however
high. by the claim such levels were
necessary for its national defense. Let
us not forget, however, that new inter-