Evening star., 1933-04-02
BY COUNT CARLO SFORZA,

Former Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs.
l"HE problem of disarmament,
strictly speaking, is clear-cut
issue. Not even the thousands
i of studies prepared by the mil
itary experts at Geneva have
succeeded in confusing the basic ideas
| concerned in it.
Nothing is more unkind than to show
| that statesmen are in the tow OF mill
! taIy experts and even OF industrial
organizations which make tremendous
profits in the manufacture of arma-
ments; but the caution, the uncer-
| tainty, even of those who are most de-
| voted to the cause Of peace-such men
as Herriot and Paul-Boncour-has
| reached tragic end.
Fear has again seized the world as
| it did in the four or five years leading
| up to 1914. A nation may desire peace,
| but it fears its neighbors, or an alliance
of its neighbors, and SO it arms itself.
Nations arm themselves because they
are convinced that ornaments will hold
possible aggressors at bay. This is
done today with the full realization
by every one that no premeditated de-
sire for war existed in the years before
1914; nations were armed and had con-
fdence in the force, of arms, yet they
stumbled into war.
There are only two new elements
which tend to change the present situ-
alton, as compared with that OF 1914
One of these new elements-and this
increases the possibilities of another
war-is the new machinery of war
which has not yet been tried; those
formidable secrets, whether they be
poison gases, new developments in avia-
ton or noiSeless cannon. Those who
possess these secrets hope that these
engines of war, aided by the element of
| surprise, will be sufficient to assure
them of victory For although most OF
the great nations are preparing for the
/ next war by studying the years between
| 1914 and 1918, just as they prepared
| themselves for that war by studying
the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, new
methods of warfare in the next inter-
| national conflict are absolutely certain.
War to Come Suddenly.
Wars of the future will commence
without formal declaration. The cere-
monies of ambassadors leaving enemy
| capitals, as in 1914 and 1915, will seem
| an anachroniSm as romantic and yDut-
+, rloded as the medieval knights chal-
| lInges to battle. One will wake up to
discover that one or two of his coun-
| trys most flourshing and populous cities
have been reduced to utter ruin, and
that will certainly be done without any
warning.
The other new element-and this can
be staying force against another war
is the certitude that the next war
will be the end of a civilization and a
have little force for governments which
| exist by traditions of caste, or for dem
agogues for whom remaining in power
is the sole thing which counts.
A growing nation, with an increasing
population confined within uncertain
borders, constitutes a danger spot from
the point of view of armaments, only
if it is poisoned by the spirit of war, or
| if it considers war as one of the lesser
evils, or if an audacious minority of its
citizens esteems war to be profitable
| venture.
There is no doubt that the promises
contained in the Treaty of Versailles,
which have not been fulfilled, have fur
| nished arguments to those growing
numbers among the German people
who say: I'VE have waited since 1919;
either the victors at Versailles shall
| keep their word or we shall arm our
selves as they are armed better than
they are armed; If they have their Sc
curity to safeguard, so have we ours"
Who can believe that great people
one of the foremost nations, situated in
the very middle of Europe. will remain
unarmed when they are surrounded by
armed neighbors?
Not even the Treaty of Versailles
that treaty which, in attempting to
settle the question Of reparations, pro-
ceeded upon the principle that Ger
many will work for us for generations
to come, and the more she works the
more we will take from her'-not even
the Treaty of Versailles contemplated
that.
For the purpose of making possible
and preparing for limitation of arm
aments between all the nations, it is pro-
posed that Germany ="
With these words begins the pre-
amble of Part V of the Versailles
military clauses imposed upon Ger
many.
Article 8 of Treaty.
Article of the treaty sets forth that
the members of the Society of Nations
are constrained to realize that the
maintenance of peace imposes the re-
duction of national armaments to the
minimum compatible with national Sc
curity and with the performance OF
international obligations"
Treaties almost always are to be ex-
planned in the light of the official dis
cussions which preceded them. In the
case of the Versailles Treaty what dc
we find?
The note which Clemenceau sent tc
the German delegation on May %, 1919
in the name of all the Allied powers
set forth: That it is noted with salts
faction that the German government
is favorable to disarmament" ano
assured the Germans that their late
enemies were at the moment preparing
some programs relative to inter
national disarmament"
The German reply confirmed thai
= the Reich was ready to be the first te
disarm "on condition that their