General Dawes pointed out that in accordance with the agreed
plan Great Britain and the United States had been composing their own naval differences as best they could and already the dispute which concerned an aggregate tonnage of 2,400,000 had • been narrowed down to " a minor matter of 30,000 tons." In his judgment, if the discussions had been primarily between experts instead of between statesmen (guided by 'experts) no agreement would have been reached. The public would have become aware once more of " a general and destructive conflagration " involving parity as to the whole structure of the 2,400,000 tons. General Dawes admitted that there had been little bonfires, but each one had been conscientiously and quietly extinguished by those who had built it. And each bonfire was put out before the next one started. Finally he re-emphasized the crux of the whole matter—the necessity of con- vincing the public in every country with the aid of the simplest possible language. Lord Balfour once made a witty and relevant remark on this subject : " The generality of people much prefer the continued existence of a problem which they cannot understand to an ex- planation of it which they cannot understand."
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