28 JANUARY 1922, Page 1

" Unfortunately," the Americans go on to say, " France

has led We- 'way in -making the Genoa Conference from our point of view almost meaningless. We wanted to reduce armaments

not merely in order to prevent war, but to release the world from a terrible burden of expenditure and thus to promote a trade revival. But what do we see ? We see Europe still an armed camp and apparently content to remain so. If France will not reduce her forces and if she even insists on greatly adding to her submarines and cruisers, then other nations will not be able to disarm. Therefore we shall put this question to you very seriously= How much are you Europeans spending on arma- ments ' We want an answer to that question as soon as possible. We can scarcely be expected to go to Genoa till we know."