From August 1 to September 1
FAILURE OF NAVAL CONFERENCE
Conference Ends August 4.—The Tri- Power Conference for Limitation of Naval Armament called by President Coolidge ended in failure at the plenary session held August 4. A suggestion was made by Viscount Cecil that a treaty be prepared covering points in which “a large measure of agreement had already been reached,” but this proposal was not approved. In final speeches the heads of each delegation restated the positions taken by their several countries. Mr. Gibson in his closing address stressed the objections to the British proposals, and declared that present world conditions did not warrant the British requirement of 647,000 tons of auxiliary surface craft as against the 450,000 tons which, he said, had been found acceptable at the time of the Washington Conference.
Upon his return from the conference Admiral Jones declared his belief that little progress toward disarmament could be made by conferences. The conference, he thought, had done good by calling attention to the requirements of our Navy and emphasizing the importance of our foreign commerce and the need of an adequate Merchant Marine. “It is recognized,” he said, “after all is said and done, that the United States is an island empire and, just as any other great industrialist nation, must depend for its prosperity on sea communication. I think this conference has done much to turn the eyes of our people toward the sea and to show what the sea means to the continued prosperity of the United States. At least I hope so. What we also need is an adequate commercial fleet which would act as an arm to our Navy. We need a fleet to take our goods to foreign countries and to return with foreign goods.”
Asked if he thought there would be another naval armament limitation conference, Admiral Jones said: “I think that if they have another preparatory commission, the probability is that we will be in it and I think the United States will take part in any future conference.”
Joint Statement of Delegates.—The text of the joint statement approved by the United States, British and Japanese delegates at the final session of the conference is as follows:
In pursuance of the suggestion of the President of the United States, the plenipotentiary delegates of the President of the United States, his Britannic Majesty and of his Majesty the Emperor of Japan, met at Geneva on June 20 to consider the limitation of auxiliary naval craft.
Meetings have been held from that date until the fourth of August, during which period the delegates and their advisers have considered in detail various methods of attaining this object.
On many important questions provisional agreements have been reached, certain of which arc embodied in the annexed report of the technical committee of the conference. These points of agreement relate particularly to the limitation of destroyers and submarines, and it was only when the conference took up the question of limitation of the cruiser class that difficulties were encountered.
These difficulties proved to be of a character to render it desirable to adjourn the present negotiations until the respective Governments have had an opportunity to give further consideration to the problem and to tbc various methods which have been suggested for its solution.
The American delegates presented the view that within total tonnage, limitations (maximum), initially suggested, should be between 250,000 and 300,000 tons in the cruiser class for the United States and the British Empire, and between 150,000 and 180,000 tons for Japan; each of the powers should have liberty to build the number and the type of vessel which they might consider best suited to their respective national needs, with freedom, subject to limitation of the Washington treaty, to arm these vessels as they saw fit.
The British delegates, while putting proposals to a limitation of the size of vessels of all classes, have opposed the principle of limitation by a total tonnage alone on the ground that the largest ship and the heaviest gun permissible must inevitably become the standard.
They desired, first, a strict limitation of the number of 10,000-ton 8-inch gun cruisers, and, secondly, the establishment of a secondary type of cruiser to a maximum caliber of six inches.
The British delegates contended that the establishment of this type alone would enable the British Empire, within a moderate figure of total tonnage, to attain the numbers which it regards as indispensable to meet its special circumstances and its special needs.
The Japanese delegates presented the view that low total tonnage levels should be fixed which would effect a real limitation of auxiliary naval vessels. As for the question of the 8-inch gun cruisers, while the Japanese Government could not agree to any restriction as a matter of principle, they had no difficulty in declaring that, provided a tonnage level of 315,000 tons for auxiliary surface vessels were fixed for Japan, they would not build any further 8-inch gun cruisers until 1936, except those already authorized in existing programs.
Various methods were considered of reconciling the divergent views indicated above, but while material progress has been made and the points of divergence reduced, no mutually acceptable plan has been found to reconcile the claim of the British delegates for numbers of vessels, for the most part armed with 6-inch guns, with the desire of the American delegates for the lowest possible total tonnage limitation with freedom of armament within such limitation, subject to the restriction as to armament already set by the Washington treaty.
Faced with this difficulty, the delegates have deemed it wise to adjourn the present conference with this frank statement of their respective views, and to submit the problem for the further consideration of their Governments, in the hope that consultation between them may lead to an early solution.
Further, the delegates are free to recommend to their respective Governments the desirability of arranging between the signatories of the Washington treaty that the conference to he called pursuant to Paragraph 2 of Article XXI of that treaty should be held earlier than August, 1931, the date contemplated under the terms of that instrument, in order that any decision reached by such a conference may come into force before the capital ship construction program commences, namely, in November of that year.
In making these recommendations and in submitting this statement of the points of agreement as well as of the points on which agreement has not yet been achieved, the delegates desire to place on record a statement of their conviction that the obstacles that have been encountered should not be accepted as terminating the effort to bring about a further limitation of naval armament.
On the contrary, they trust that the measure of agreement which has been reached, as well as the work which has been done in clarifying their respective positions, will make it possible, after consultation between the Governments, to find a basis for reconciling divergent views and lead to the early conclusion of an agreement for the limitation of auxiliary naval vessels which will permit of substantial economy and, while safeguarding national security, promote the feeling of mutual confidence and good understanding.
UNITED STATES AND LATIN AMERICA
Marines in Nicaragua.—Brigadier General Logan Feland, who has been at the head of the marine force in Nicaragua, left on August 24 to resume command of the marine base at Quantico. The marines in Nicaragua at that time had been reduced to about 1,500, under Colonel Louis M. Gu- lick. In a dispatch on August 23, Admiral Sellers stated that the pacification crisis was past and conditions were improving, with only small bands of brigands unsubdued. Arrangements were under way for the surrender of General Sandino. On August 16 American marines and native constabulary killed two brigands in Northern Nicaragua.
Mexican Claims Convention Extended.—By an agreement signed in Washington on August 16, the life of the General Claims Convention between the United States and Mexico was extended for two years. The convention, which covers claims, not due to revolutionary acts, as far back as 1868, has had submitted to it 2,448 American and 796 Mexican claims, of which it has decided fifty-one of American and nine of Mexican origin. The agreement extending the convention permits consideration of all claims filed up to August 30 of this year. Claims for losses due to revolutionary activities are submitted to a Special Claims Convention which continues until 1929, though active sessions have for some time been in abeyance.
ENGLAND AND THE COMMONWEALTH
New Election in Irish Free State.— On August 25 the Cosgrave ministry in the Irish Free State surprised its opponents by dissolving Parliament and calling new elections for September 15. The ministry declared that the purpose of this move was to put clearly before the people the choice between the Cosgrave and an opposition government.
In order to bring about the downfall of the Cosgrave cabinet, the forty-five Fianna Fail delegates, headed by Eamon de Valera, who had hitherto refused to take the oath of allegiance, did so on August 12 and took their seats in the Dail, declaring that they “proposed to regard the oath as an empty formality.” On August 16 a motion of no confidence was beaten by a bare majority of one, the speaker casting the deciding ballot and one Nationalist (Rcdmondite) member abstaining from voting. The Dail then adjourned until October 11. Subsequently the Cosgrave forces won two seats in by- elections, but the position of the government was still insecure, and the call for a new election was taken as a shrewd move to prevent defeat. Most of the Fianna Fail funds, largely secured in America, were, it is said, spent in the last election, whereas the government party has strong support from conservative and industrial elements in Ireland. The Sinn Fein party, which elected five members in the last parliament, decided not to take part in the new election owing to lack of funds.
Viscount Cecil Quits British Cabinet.—Owing to dissatisfaction with the policy of the Baldwin Government, especially in relation to the Geneva Naval Conference, at which he was a delegate, Viscount Robert Cecil, on August 30, resigned from his position in the British Ministry, and also stated that he would not attend the September League of Nations Assembly as one of the British delegates. “On the broad policy of disarmament,” Lord Cecil wrote, “the majority of the cabinet and I are not agreed. I believe that general reduction and limitation of armaments are essential for the peace of the world, and on that peace depends not only the existence of the British Empire but even European civilization itself.”
FRANCE
Franco-German Trade Agreement.— The Treaty of Commerce between Germany and France, which has been under negotiation for many months, was finally signed in Paris on August 17. The chief bargaining over the treaty was for the purpose of securing favorable tariff rates for French surplus agricultural products, such as wine, in exchange for tariff concessions on chemical, electrical, optical, and other manufactured imports from Germany. According to the terms of the treaty, after 1928 Germany will obtain “most-favored-nation” rates on all exports to France. Germany also secures full trading rights in Morocco and other French protectorates and colonies, but without the privilege of residence in Morocco for German nationals.
It is expected that the tariffs fixed in the treaty on German imports to France will soon be applied also to American imports, which at present have a somewhat lower rate.
Red Riots in Paris.—During the period of the Sacco-Vanzetti executions, communist riots and demonstrations occurred in Paris on a scale not equalled since before the war. Hundreds were arrested, and many were injured in the rioting, including 121 police in the fighting on August 23. As in other European cities, American official buildings were heavily guarded.
SOVIET REPUBLIC
Trotsky Group Win Voice in Party.— At the plenary session of the Communist Central Committee held in Moscow during the first ten days of August, the Bolshevist opposition headed by Trotsky and Zinorieff not only escaped expulsion from the committee but, after being “admonished” in a 5,000-word resolution, actually secured the right to publish their news in the official newspaper Pravda from October 15 up to the assembling of the Communist Party Congress on December 1. Writing in the New York Times, the correspondent, Walter Duranty, explained the compromise as a concession to popular sentiment, and declared that the party had emerged from the crisis stronger than before.
Russo-Persian Commercial Treaty.— It was reported in August that after six months’ negotiations a commercial treaty had been agreed upon between the Soviet Government and Persia. Owing to the excess of Persian imports into Russia over exports to Persia, drastic cuts in the former have been made by the Soviet regime. The present treaty provides for imports and exports amounting to 25,000,000 rubles, but
grants certain further concessions to Persian exports, and permits transit of Persian goods through Russia to Western Europe without taxation.
CHINA
Fall of Chiang Kai-siiek.—On August 15 came the surprising news of the resignation of Chiang Kai-shek as commander-in-chief of the Nanking revolutionary forces and from all other posts in the Kuomintang or Nationalist party. Chiang went into seclusion in his native village. His resignation was accompanied by that of several other officials and the practical collapse of the Nanking Government. The fall of Chiang appears to have resulted primarily from a series of severe reverses inflicted upon the Nationalist forces by Sun Chuan- fang, the former Shanghai war-lord, in the fighting north of Nanking along the Pukow- Tientsin railway. Sun’s forces showed complete regeneration since their defeat last March. At the close of August they had recrossed the Yangtse at several points and were closing in on Shanghai. Firing on foreign naval vessels by Southern troops increased as a result of the resumption of hostilities along the river.
Chiang’s own statement attributed his resignation to a suggestion from General Feng Yu-siang that the Nanking Government relinquish power in favor of Flankow, along with the threats of the Hankow Government and the reverses on the Shantung front. He ended with an appeal to the Hankow officials to go to Nanking, consolidate the two governments, and continue the campaign against the Northerners.
Peking Premier Broaches Treaty Revision.—With the disorganization of the Nanking Government and the success of General Sun Chuan-fang’s advance into the Nanking and Shanghai areas, Premier Pan Fu of the Peking Government again raised the question of treaty revision by negotiation between the powers and the government at Peking. He declared that Marshal Chang Tso-lin’s government was the only really effective authority in China today, and that the powers would do well to open treaty revision parleys in order to swing popular sentiment in favor of the Northern forces.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES AND DISCUSSIONS
WILLIAMSTOWN INSTITUTE OF POLITICS. —The seventh annual session of the Williams College Institute of Politics ended on August 25 after a month of lectures, conferences, and round table discussions. Among the general topics taken up were Inter-Allied Debts, European Dictatorships, Latin-American Problems, the Philippines, China, the British Commonwealths, and American Agricultural Problems. Sir Arthur Willert, head of the news section of the British Foreign Office, gave a series of lectures on British Foreign Policy. Summary of the conferences is difficult since the discussions aimed not so much to lead to definite conclusions as to give free opportunity for expression of divergent opinions. Professor Quigley, of the University of Minnesota, head of the Round Table on China, in summing up the discussions in that field, expressed the belief that China would evolve along lines of a gradual federation (New York Times, August 25).
“The process,” he said, “is certain to be slow and it affords no materials for present policy except a counsel of confidence for the future.
"It is likely to be true that Federalism for China will take the form of regionalism. That has been the recent tendency of Federalism in the United States and it would be advantageous to have it take that path in China from the beginning. If it does, unnatural political and economic lines will be broken down, leaving the people of large areas with similar interests and a logical center of activities free to work out common problems.
“Chinese provinces have been for centuries inclined to group themselves into regions, a tendency which better communications will accentuate. From the political angle the recognition of regions rather than provinces as units would reduce somewhat the number of authorities to be considered for representation in the control Government. It would also reduce the cost of government.
“This consideration leads naturally to another; that for the present all that can be envisaged are a number of regions of varying size and types of political control which are conscious of each other’s existence but which are related to each other in no way beyond the common membership in the Chinese State, itself defined in a constitution at present inoperative. One region recognizes another only for the sake of an alliance or when seeking to absorb it by conquest. Such a situation is not federalism; it might be termed unconscious confederation. The next state, it may be anticipated, will be true confederation, to be followed subsequently by the pooling of common interests in a Federal State.”
Interparliamentary Union.—The Twenty-fifth Congress of the Interparliamentary Union met in Paris on August 25. Thirty-five countries were represented by about 400 delegates, including twenty from the United States with ex-Senator Theodore E. Burton as head of the delegation. Arbitration, limitation of armament, tariff revision downward, and codification of international law were among the subjects scheduled for reports and discussion.
Cases Before the World Court.—Bulletin No. 4 (August 10) on Foreign Relations, issued by the so-called “American Foundation” maintaining the American Peace Award, lists the cases now pending before the World Court. These are five in number, as follows: (1) between France and Turkey over the collision of the French steamer Lotus with a Turkish collier and the subsequent arrest and imprisonment of a French officer of the Lotus; (2) between Germany and Poland over a German-owned nitrate plant in territory now Polish; (3) between Belgium and China over the legitimacy of the Chinese denunciation of the Chino-Belgian commercial treaty; (4) between Greece and Great Britain over the concession of a Greek citizen in Palestine; (5) between Great Britain, France, Italy, and Rumania as to whether the control of the Danube by the European Commission extends between Galatz and Braila on the same terms as below.