Evening star., 1932-04-04

It goes without saying that President
Hoover has a purpose in diSpatchine
Secretary Stimson to Geneva, This
observer risks the prophecy that the
purpose will be revealed pretty promptly
after the Secretary of State reaches his
destination. The most eager desire OF
the United States is to pump some LIE
and action into the Disarmament Con-
ference and to make sure that 1t gets
somewhere. Col Stimson is certain to
leave no doubt on that score during his
brief Sojourn in Geneva. 1t was Dele
gate Norman H Davis arrival in Wash
ington last week that suddenly and
Unexpectedly determined the President
to send Secretary StimSon to Switzer-
land. Mr.. Davis represented, there is
reason to believe, that the restatement
of the American disarmament Thesis,
with all the prestige and emphasis the
Secretary of State would give it, might
be just the feather TO turn the confer
ence scales in the direction of positive
action.
Because of what is imminent at Ge-
neva, it is timely to set down what the
American thesis" is 1t was formally
submitted to the conference by AmbaS-
SddOr GIBSON on FeDruaTy b.
In the past every nation has JUS
titled its level of armament, how
ever high, by the claim that such
levels were necessary for national
defense Let us not forget, however,
that new international commitments
of binding force have introduced
new conception of what is needed by
2 nation for the purpose of defense.
Such treaties and commitments bear
upon practically all the nations here
represented In view of this new sit
uation, calling for new methods and
new formulas, the lessons of the old
strategy must be unlearned, in order
that We may advance. The new
conception of national ornaments
has never been put into words in any
of our commitments, but 1t is so i'm
plicit in their terms that it can be
reduced almost to formula"
y
Then the American spokesman pre-
sented what it would not be inaccurate
to describe as the Hoover formula:
Every nation has not only the
right but the obligation to its own
people to maintain internal order.
This obviously calls for an adequate
military force for internal police
work. Beyond and above this there
is the obligation of each govern
ment to its people TO maintain a
sufficient increment OF military
strength to defend the national ter
ritory against aggression and inva-
sion. We, therefore, have this for
mula dividing our military forces into
two parts. Beyond this, reasonable
supplement to the police force we
have taken an implicit obligation to
restrict ourselves. Our problem is,
therefore. to establish by honest
scrutiny and agreement the margin
that now exists beyond what is es-
sential for the maintenance of in
ternal order and defense of our ter
ritorieS Controlled by prudence,
but not by fear, let us then pro-
ceed in a practical way to reduce
armaments to the level to which we
are all committed.
Picture Secretary StimSOn at Geneva
in the role of vigorously reminding the
conference what Americas position is,
and you'll not be far from guessing the
real object of his junket Incidentally,
it's interesting to realize that should
the conference miraculously accept the
American thesis-Which. in a nutshell.
would apply the yardStick of statistical
relatively to the different nations mill
tary requrements-the United States
Army would probably be increased, in
stead Of reduced. At present our force
of roundly 10000 men is barely "ade-
quate for internal police work" II
WaShington's computation of the addi-
tional Increment" necessary for de-
fense against aggression and invasion
were to materialize. We should have an