NAVAL CONFERENCE: Doom’s Double Barrels

Statesmen of “eleven nations” gathered in the Locarno Room of the British Foreign Office last week for the opening of a new Naval Conference which all oracles have doomed to fail in attaining its objective: limitation of naval armament. Impressive to behold was the majority of seven nations (Great Britain, Canada, India, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and the Irish Free State) dwarfing physically the minority of four (U. S., Japan, France and Italy).

Grey and graceful little U. S. Ambassador-at-Large Norman Hezekiah Davis nominated British Foreign Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare for President of the Conference, and for Vice President the First Lord of the British Admiralty, new Viscount Monsell of Evesham (Sir Bolton Eyres-Monsell). These nominations were adopted by acclaim. At the time President ”Flying Sam” Hoare was on his way to wintersport in Switzerland.

In the Locarno Room, after Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin had strewed a few autumn leaves of noncommittal oratory, proceedings opened with this double-barreled deadlock: 1) Japanese Chief Delegate Admiral Osami Nagano ultimatumed that nothing else was to be discussed until naval parity was conceded to Japan. Britain counted on the U. S. to bear the brunt of insisting that the 5-5-3 ratio be maintained with Japan at the short end. 2) Italy, while expecting 5-5-3 to dynamite the conference, was adamant in her standing demand for naval parity with France, which in turn maintained her standing refusal to yield to Benito Mussolini on this sore point.

Attempting to set some sort of ball rolling, Mr. Davis proposed, on behalf of President Roosevelt, a 20% reduction of all navies. Instantly Admiral Nagano announced that Japan rejects this proposal.