DAWES’ NAVAL “YARDSTICK.”

Thames Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 17678, 31 August 1929, Page 6

DAWES’ NAVAL “YARDSTICK.”

“At the beginning' of the work of disarmament,” declares General Dawes, United States Ambassador to "Great ■Britain, the contribution of the naval experts to the problem should be a definition of abstract equality. It is

certainly possible for naval experts to arrive at a definition for evaluation of fighting strength of ships. Thus, for instance, one might find a yardstick with which to determine the military value of individual ships. “I will say, frankly, that from a commission of naval experts of the respective nations meeting together and called to evolve a final definition of the naval yardsticks I personally should expect a failure to agree. “It would seem that to adjust to human nature the method of arriving at naval reduction each Government might separately obtain from their respective naval experts their definition of the yardstick. Then the inevitable compromise between these differing ! definitions, which will be expressed in the final fixation of the technical yardstick, should be made by a committee of statesmen of the nations, . reinforced from the beginning by these separate expressions of abstract technical naval opinion, and able again to i seek further naval advice, if necessary, before the final fixation. “These statesmen should further be the ones to draw up for the world the trtms of the final agreement upon naval reduction, which should be couched in those simple terms understandable to the ordinary man on the street, which, while the pet aversion of the casuist, are the highest expression of true statesmanship. That final agreement, covering the quantitative dispositions, will go to the nations for approval or rejection. “If this should be the outcome, let those entrusted with the last draft of the conclusions of the last conference be men born with the faculty of clear and concise statement, for that document must appeal to the composite will of the people of the nations, and in order to make the proper appeal it must ba read generally and understood.

“There, again, we remember the operations of the law of human nature, and will hope that in these men the temptation to show erudition will be subordinated to writing that which, while properly covering the cause, may be understood by the audience. A clear statement of the case, understandable by aH, should mean success.’’