Evening star., 1932-01-31
GENEVA SUCCESS DOUBTFUL
WITH FRANCE DOMINATING
Conditions, Which Include Security Pact
Hard to Reconcile With American
Fight for Moral Disarming Cause.

! opposition, are agreed in the thesis
that the reduction Of French military
/ strength must be conditioned upon the
acquisition of new guarantees.
1t is plain that the German, Austrian
and Hungarian armies, having been re-
duced to the limits of necessary police
force cannot be further cut down. Thus
the diminution of the armies Of their
former enemies would advantage them
relatively. Italy, while not limited by
treaty in her military strength is re-
stricted by poverty. She cannot keep
pace with France, and to get equality
she can only seek reduction of French
arms.
Security Based on Army.
Now France has said quite definitely
that her armies are the basis Of her
/ security, and the French, Czech and
| JugoSlaV statesmen have echoed the
French thesis They would obviously
much prefer to have the British and
American nations promise that if their
present frontiers were threatened, Brit
lSh and American troops would come to
defend them. Then they could reduce
their military expenditures and cut
their taxes, and all governments equally
desire such opportunities. But it, as is,
Of course, obvious, the British and
American peoples will not accept any
such responsibility, then the French
and their allies will not run the risk
OF reduction without guarantees.
There Is the essential deadlock which
awaits our representatives at Geneva.
They have nothing material to offer
France and her allies They cannot
promise any guarantee. They cannot
even offer the far less definite cOnsulta-
tive pact of the sort discussed at Lon
don, because in its present temper Con-
greSS will not ratify any pcct. And. on
the other hand, in the light of recent
events in Manchuria, France and her
allies are hardly likely to attach much
Importance to any new version of the
covenant, the Kellogg pact and the
nlne-poWer treaty, all of which have
been exposed as futile by Japanese &C
tion.
In effect, our delegation supported by
the British within certain limits and
the German and Italian without limit.
must say to the French: Reduce your
armies in the interest of peace, but if
you do this, virtue must be its own re-
ward, for If you are attacked, we can
do nothing about it." That is the thesis
our delegates must present to a French
delegation headed by statesmen who
know they could not hold Office for a
day if they yielded the least bit to any
such pleadings
Nor shall we be helped much by Ger
man and Italian support, because
France and her allies will see in these
maneuverS only an effort to exploit
American naivette for the purposes of
dlsarming France and preparing a fu-
ture war. AS for the British. their situ-
alton will be very difficult, because the
stand the United States has taken in
{ the If ho loo+
them back upon France To get their
money out Of Germany to achieve even
the limited relief Of a temporary mora
torium extending beyond the Hoover
Gate, they must play with the French.
L. S. Has Argument Only.
France has, then, without dispute
taken for herself the head of the table
at Geneva. The only kind of a result
which will enable her statesmen to re-
Sist domestic attack, barring the irr-
possible adoption of the French thesis,
is failure. AS for her people, any one
who is familiar with French life can
see how skillfully the French press is
exploiting the debt issue to consolidate
national public opinion against any
American proposals.
AS far as the American delegation is
concerned, no attempt has been made
W P4tpdIC III lIlG StilbNd conference
that is, to prepare by discussions of the
political aspects Of the question with
the interested governments. We are
going to Geneva with the old familiar
American argument that disarmament
is a moral and a material Ques-
ton; a problem Of peace and of pros
perity. Our delegation has only mis-
SiOnary arguments to present; it cannot
confer or compromise; it can only seek
to convert.
And, as at all previous conferences, 1t
is coming Immediately into collision
with the Continental state of mind,
which sees disarmament as purely pO-
litiCal 1t is going inevitably to take
sides against France and her allies and
to support Germany and her former
associates of the World War. because
the latter are seeking to disarm France
and are themselves diSarmed. But al
though it must seem in all French eyes
to be deliberately pro-German. it can
do nothing to disabuSe French minds,
because it has no resources.
No real achievement at Geneva is
now possible save with French consent.
No French consent is to be had save as
the nations interested in a successful
conference are prepared to meet the
French conditions, (which are political
and include general security pacts. But
the United States is not willing to agree
to such pacts. 1t is thus thrown back
upon the bleak prospect Of one more
attempt to convert French realism to
American idealism. 1t cannot talk
politics, so it must talk morals. Such,
briefly, is the prospect of Geneva.