Evening star., 1932-03-27

| SCd dIlu LII LIlt ITCdI bIlIdul lido
been feeling out the situation in gen.
eral, and the United States in particu-
lar, on the subject of abolishing the
battleship, or, if abolition be impossible,
of reducing its size to $4,000 tons. 1t
may be interjected, in passing, that the
American delegation reveals no enthu-
siasm for either proposal.
Uncle Sans belief in the indispenSa-
bility of long-cruising ships of great
displacement and heavy armament is
stronger than ever, in light of recent
events in the Far East The greatest
feeling-out process of all at Geneva, of
course, was the French trial balloon
launched at the opening of the confer
ence by France-M TardieuS grandiose
scheme for a Super-League of Nations.
with an army, navy and air force of its
own, which could be hurled at an ag-
gressor who broke the peace
Spokesman of one nation after an
other agreed to bestow sympathetic
consideration" upon the French plan,
but without seriously holding it to be
practicable. From the American stand
point, 1t goes without saying, because Of
our abstention from League member
ship, Tardieu,s brain-wave is unde-
batable. For all practical purposes, 1t
is as dead as mutton.
The Hour for Brass Tacks."
BY and large, the "sparring for an
opening" phase at Geneva is over.
Nearly every power knows now about
where it is at" The time for ora
torical fireworks, glittering generalities
and gallery plays is past, and the hour
for brass tackS has arrived 1t was a
definitely promising thing that the final
session of the conference, preceding
the Easter recess, was marked, espec
tally on the part of Geneva leaders,
by demand that the conference waste
no more time in getting to grips with
Its business. M. Tardieu, warmly sec
onded by Ambassador Gibson speaking
for the United States. discouraged the
practice of passing the buck" on in
ceSsant occasions from the conference
to its various expert committees. Mr..
Gibson secured the passage of a speed
ing-up resolution, whereby, when busi-
ness is resumed on April II, the con-
ference will sit mornings and after
moons, with the, work of the technical
committees subordinated to it. The
American delegations influence, on
various critical occasions thus far, has
been thrown conspicuously on the side
OF action.
Mr.. Gibson has not disguised his in
bNASAOAA W OuIlUhlOuS OH lIllS
score, as he puts it, whenever the con-
ference engine shows signs of stalling
Somebody at Geneva suggested in this
connection that the cause of disarma-
ment would be advantaged If the dele
gates, like cardinals at a papal elec-
t1on, could be locked up till they
reached a decision.
The American delegation came to
Geneva actuated by the conviction
which President Hoover has never
ceased to hold, viz, that economic ad-
versity sooner or later will drive the
nations into disarmament. Our spokes-
men at the conference preach this
doctrine day in and day out-privately,
in their intimate contacts with delegates
rather than publicly in conference ses-
sions. Mr.. Gibson and his associates
rub in. as often as circumstances per-
NIT and as forcibly as the proprieties
allow, that the issue must be faced if
only because the world has been led
to harbor definite hopes and will not
be content with anything but a solu-
tion-eventually, If not Immediately.
Gibson Gives Warning.
At the final conference meeting be-
fore the recent adjournment Ambas-
Sador Gibson declared In so many words
that the conference has now to tackle
the realities of the problem. BY that
he implied that it cannot much longer
refrain from getting down to cases-to
actual figures. either in tons, guns or
cash. Our most suave and experienced
conference veteran did not indulge ex-
actly in that figure of speech, but Glib
son plainly inferred that the time may
not be very far off when some country
is going to pull gun out of its hip
pocket and demand showdown.
If this chronicler, surveying his six
weeks at Geneva, were asked to set
down his principal reason for believing
that the conference is going to get
somewhere, he would identify himself
unhesitatingly with the American dele
cations thesiS-that the nations budget
woes sooner or later are going to compel
them to cut armament expenditure.
The writer believes that France, OF all
other-the France which mainly holds
the key to the situation-will be guided,
however reluctantly, by these iron
financial considerations.
The French are confronted by
treasury deficit Of 100000, 900 francs.
They may have to borrow that much TO
balance their budget. They are now
feeling the pinch of depression and un-
employment on an intensive scale.
Their jobless population increased in
1881 by more than 500 per cent, while
Great Britain's unemployment last year
mounted by only per cent. M. Tar
dieu is a realist. No man who ever
attained the French premiership was
more conscious than its present occu-
pant of the necessity of facing facts
and figures and trimming his sails &C
cordingly.
All of which means that adversity
TIa
mother of disarmament. The labor
pains inseparable from motherhood will
not be escaped. Their rumbles are
echoing across Europe in unmistakable
tones today. Tomorrow. unless all
signs fail-always remembering that in
terms of nations, tomorrow need to be
reckoned in years-should see the birth
of the ideal for which all the travail
was endured. 1t is indulging in no
sentimental optimism to say that Geneva
is slowly, steadily, paving the way for
its realization.