Montana labor news., 1932-08-18
ARMS FARLEY ENDS HOPE FOR
DISARMAMENT OF WORLD POWERS

world disarmament conference has failed pub
ldy The closing resolution sipulates that the Steering Committee of
the conference shall meet m Sept. q, and the General Commission not
later than four months after that date. Officially, therefore, the confer
ence is only suspended"
unoffcany the acceptance of a resolution as weak as the combined
talents of the representatives of England, France, America and Italy, under
the expert guidance of Dr. Benes of CzechoslovaEia, dared produce is con
sidered a indication that the future of the conference is extremely prob
lematcal
The resolution which vas voted for by Al countries, and voted against
only by Germany and Russia, was originally Sir John simons bright idea.
He felt that Sc many points of agreement had been reached that the public
ought to hear about it. rejoice accordingly, and send the Woodworking dele
gates off to their vacations with a series of cheers.
As a matter of fact, the Geneva hangers-on did cheer when the resou-
ion ws passed. 50 many of the liberals and pacfists who came here
ito spur the governments on to some real reduction" have painstakingy
put themselves in the position of the experts, and outdone them at their
own game, discussing gun cahhes over teacups with a passionate interest
that their applause was probably due to sympathy rather than under
standing.
The resolution states that bombardment of the civil population from the
air shall be absolutely prohibited and adds that all aerial bombardment
will be abolished, if the high contracting parties" "a agree to observe
this abolition. Heavy land artillery will be limited in number, if the
high contracting parties decide Q m a maximum calibre, and they ca be
sure that fixed guns cannot be turned into mobile guns too rapidly The
tonnage OF tanks is to be limited but no mention IS made o. the approx
innate limit to be fixed Chemical, meteorological and ncendiary warfare
are to be prohibited they were already, back in 1925. According to
the resolution, somebody is supposed to study the question of effeedves
during the adjournment.
signs of progress. 1t means simply: how many forest rangers does it
take to equal a real soldier? 1t is easy to see the difficulty of such a
problem in mathematics when applied to 5O-odd countries in an attempt
to find o m basis of comparison.
The five big naval pOwers-Engand, United States, Japan, France and
ltaly-are invited to have a talk and to submit any inspirations toward dis
armament they may derive from this exchange. The resolution suggests
that maybe the smaller naval powers might have a talk, too, and tell the
General Commission what they'd like to do, if anything. In other words,
the high contracting parties, with great sOlemnity have agreed to do
exactly nothing.
and often stopped for various reasons-German elections, French elections,
Easter vacaton-an excuse was always found. The only progress val
the perfect teamwork developed to prevent any question from getting its
final solution Thus the work of the conference was passed back and
forth without progress.
Now, apparently, at last the delegates themselves have come to the
conclusion that their international sleghtof-hand is merely a waste of
time. Sir John Simon, who was one of the hghest-paid lawyers in Eng
land, oblgngly found a way out, and the general public must content
itself with the present resolution IS the only result of the first round in
the Battle of the Dsarmers.
January is mentioned as the earliest possible date for the conference to
reconvene. Maxim LhInoff of Russia announced that his country voted
"for disarmament and against the resolution" There seemed to be some
doubt in the American delegation about returning, although they cn hard
ly have been disappointed by the weakness of the resolution since they
helped draft it, and publicly voted against their own "Hoover proposal"
of onethird arms reduction when it "a up as a Russian amendment.
The only phrase which still sends shvers down the assembled backs of
the high contracting parties is public opinion" Without an uncompro-
missing demand from the people for disarmament, January "a cor and
go, but ornaments will go o forever