Evening star., 1932-08-08
FRANCE WATCHED
IN ARMS PARLEY
Time for Explosion of Bomb
! she'll Brought to Geneva
2 Awaited.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
GENEVA. August 8.-France. it Is
avowed, came TO the Disarmament Con-
ference armed with bombshell, to be
hurled when a favorable opportunity
offered" The first phase of the con-
ference ended without any explosion
from the French. The bomb, therefore,
IS being held in reserve.
There will be no interruption in the
possibilities of opportunities, for al
though the conference proper does not
meet again until January, its work IS
continuing here with permanent COM
mittee in touch with the divers diplo-
matte conversations in progress, two OF
the most important of which relate to
the Franco-German military problem
and the Franco Italian naval problem.
Many Opportunities.
The bomb could be used with either
of these, seeing that it takes the form
OF a mass of data relating to "clandes-
tine armamentS" on the part Of Ger
many, Italy and Russia, with allega-
tions of taking budgets to conceal oc-
cult military expenditures" Or it could
be kept for January. Presumably 1t IS
matter of deciding when there will
be "a favorable opportunity
Such an opportunity perhaps may oc-
cur in Paris, for it was announced this
week that Count Nadolny will head the
German delegation of the Disarmament
Conference to be sent to the French
capital soon to negotiate with the Her.
riot government regarding the German
claim to equal rights in armaments.
The bomb was prepared originally by
the late Andre Maginot when he was
minister of war. AS he was to be one
of the principal members of the
French delegation to the Disarmament
Conference, it became his eventual
duty to hurl it. He died before the
conference met and the bomb passed
into the hands of his successor Andre
Tardieu. But in Geneva Tardieu had
sensation of his own to preSent-the
proposal to give armed forces to the
League Of Nations. He presented it at
the very earliest opportunity and let
the bomb wait.
Government Changes.
While it waited, Tardieu ceased to be
minister of war He headed the next
cabinet after Pierre Laval had been
overthrown and the internal situation
in France became such that he had
little time to direct tactics in Geneva.
Then in May general elections removed
him from Office.
So the bomb passed into the hands
of Edouard Herriot, less pronounced
as a nationalist than either Maginot or
Tardieu. When President HooVer'S ef-
fectives plan was introduced in the
Disarmament Conference, the long
deferred opportunity seemed to have
come. especially as Herriot had re-
ferred in the Chamber of Deputies to
the necessity Of training reserves 'in
view of the occult military organiza-
tions of certain countries" But the
delegates adjourned with the bomb still
in Herriot's baggage. Geneva wonders
when it will be throVn-if ever.
Rely on Herriot.
French nationalists insist that Her
riot will not fail to use it, especially
since Gen. Won Schleicher'S reported
statements that he wants to make the
Reichswehr stronger and stronger.
There is nothing secret in the bomb
only figures purporting to show that
Germany, with an army limited to lOO,-
900 by treaties, really has more than
five times that number of trained men:
that Italy should add 100000 Black
Shirts to her total effectives; that Rus
sia has vast army concerning which
the greatest secrecy is observed. On
the other hand, France and her allies
Poland, the little entente-practically
have no private armies at all. There
fore, in any discussion of reduction the
occult forces should be taken into con-
sideration.
The danger with bombs is that fire.
ouently they injure those for whom
they were not intended, sometimes the
thrower himself Geneva is speculat-
ing whether the French one will be
used.
(Copyright, 1922