Evening star., 1932-11-16
Frances Complicated Plan.


One thing is certain about the new
French disarmament plan-the Paris
government could not possibly have
expected that it can be beaten into
reality within the measurable future.
1t is complex and complicated. Based
frankly and squarely upon Frances de-
xnand for security-security first, last
and all the time-it Subordinates 10
that cardinal French requirement the
general goal of disarmament. botn
British and German comment on the
scheme which M. Herriot has Just sub
uttted at Geneva stresses this aspect
Of It. German comment, which is
definitely hostile, contends outright that
the French have projected nothing but
O revival, in sugar coated form, OF an
old plan to preserve their own military
and political predominance on the Con-
tinent Of Europe. Besides, according
20 Berlin, the program leaves wholly
ungratifed Germany's unyielding de-
mand for arms equality.
M. Herriot and his coadjutors make
an undisguised bid for American sup
port by proposing to vitalize and i'm
plement" the Briand-Kellogg anti-war
pact They would make something
more than implicit in (which Sec
retary Stinson has said is implicit
the obligation on the part of the pact
signatories to consult with a view to
common action in case of breach of
the peace. The suggested amplifica-
ton of the pact of most direct interest
to the United States is the proposal
that all signatories would join in an
economic boycott against an aggressor
nation.
A blanket agreement to that effect on
Americas part would be tantamount to
q surrender In advance of the United
States persistent and traditional de-
votion TO the principle Of the freedom
of the seas. II the United States re-
fused TO mortgage its independence Of
action, insisting instead upon the right
10 determine for itself from case to case
when o country was an aggressor
against the peace, concerted action by
other pact signatories or the League of
Nations could never be absolutely as
sured Of accomplishing its purpose. A
strong power like America, outside the
econonic boycott ring, would virtually
nullify it. The cspper resolution pro-
viding for an American embargo on
arms expectation 10 an aggressor did
not go the length Of depriving the
United States OF the sovereign right to
Judge what Is and is not aggression.
Nor is the French proposal for con-
tribution Of an American naval unit
30 world force" to be flung against
an aggressor in certain contingencies,
an idea likely to find favor in the
United States. This particular sug-
Restion does not differ except in detail
from the Tardieu plan for League of
Nations army, navy and air force
which was sprung at the opening of
the Geneva Conference last February,
and which has been gathering dust
among the archives Of the impractica-
bic ever since
Even in France, according to express
sions In the Paris press, M. Herriot's
disarmament and security plan meets
with a critical reception. 1t is pilloried
as academic" and therefore, beyond
the pale of practical politics. 1t is
assailed, too, because it threatens to
dethrone the whole military caste from
the proud place it has occupied
throughout European centuries. One
quaint French thrust at the plan is
that it is "too finished in its logical
development" Altogether, it is pain
fully plain that much water must flow
beneath the bridges of the Seine, the
Thames, the Tiber and the Spree before
the French specifications for "the Or
ganization of peace" can hope for reali-
cation. A celebrated French soldier,
commenting on brilliant but fatal
cavalry charge, exclaimed: at is mag
ntficent, but it is not war" European
commentators, for the most part, sur
vey the French disarmament plan and
chorus: "It is marvellous, but it is not
peace"
Many hard-headed Americans, i'm
patient with the quibblings, the inces-
SAINT rivalries and suspicious, and the
stallings of Europe, wonder why the
Old World, if it means business on dis
armament, does not come honestly tc
grips with the Hoover plan. That plar
Is clean-cut, categorical and equitable
to all. 1t projects horizontal cut ir
armed establishments everywhere by
roundly thirty-three and third pei
cent. 1t Is the unfinished business o.
the Geneva Conference. Why not fin
ish 1t?