Evening star., 1934-11-21

Ever since the Woodrow Wilson days,
| every American administration has fell
compelled to offer the world some new
contribution toward general disarma-
/ ment. or armament reduction. Most
of these contributions were accepted
put on paper, signed, sealed and de-
| livered and . forgotten as soon as
! it was convenient.
Eren President Roosevelt, real
istic as he is, has fallen into this
habit of Offering once in tchtle
some neW solution for avoiding
,udrs. He had a fairly constructive
plan in May, 1888, 1uhen he almost
got the Disarmament Conference
out of q deadlock, and is trying his
luck again NTH this neD proposal,
Which though more meaningless
than the others, mill set foreign
Offices thinking again.
Two Main Troubles.
The main trouble with the new
proposals of control Of the arms in
dustry is twofold. First of all, while
not restricting the output of coun-
tries which have such an industry, II
demands full publicity for every can
non or tank which manufacturers can
produce under government licenses
Secondly, it puts the countries which
have no arms industries under a def
mite handicap in regard to their
neighbors who have an armament
industry.
Outside the United States there are
six other countries where the arma-
ment industry is highly developed
Great Britain, France, Germany
Czechoslovakia Italy and Japan.
Some of these countries, like Ger
many, do not want the rest of the
world to know what they are dong
and that for a very obvious reason
| Germany is forbidden under the
treaty of Versailles to manufacture
| heavy arms. such as tanks, heavy
guns and airplanes. 1t is manufac-
turing them now, but officially 1t Is
still denying that it possesses arms
| forbidden under the Versailles treaty
Should she agree to the Hull pro-
| posal, she would have to admit that
the Krupp works are producing the
forbidden fruit. Such an oficial ad-
mission would Immediately give an
| opportunity to the other signatories
| of the Versailles treaty to enforce the
clauses of that agreement, by force ii
| necessary.
| Since ,Dur has not been abolished
ercept in the Kellogg Pact, nations
do not Uant their potential enemy
TO knoW Uhdt their arms strength
is. Some countries are Just roU
developing ne,D types OF ,Dar engines.
Others claim to have less armament
| than they actually haze. None OF
| them is 1Gilling to open up their
books and let the agents of the
League poke their noses in the
most sacred priuate affairs of each
ndtion-the national defense.
They may all be willing to present
| the League with official statistica
data, but everybody knows the value
of such statistics.
What of Disease Guns?
Who is going to control the new In
sidious weapons which are being
manufactured in Europe just now
such as fountain pens carrying disease
! germ cultures and tiny grenades
which look like pencils?
Armies of spys are covering thu
world these days already, trying tt
| locate the vulnerable spots of the
potential enemy and reporting tC
their governments the war prepara'
tions of their neighbors much more
efficiently than the League will evel
do. In 1888 alone 1873 individuals have
been caught and convicted by the civil
courts of various European countries
How many more have escaped and
are at present carrying out their de-
grading job nobody knows.