A Disarmament Pause
The French elections are responsible, among other things, for a certain slowing down of the work of the Dis- armament Conference, erroneously and foolishly treated- in some quarters as .a sign of the Conference's incipient disintegration. It was in fact deliberately decided, on the initiative of the Great Powers, to postpone till after the result of the elections in France was known the more important questions of principle, such as Ger- many's demand for equality of treatment and the decision between the French proposals for the inter- nationalization of aggressive weapons and the Italian plan for their abolition. Meanwhile three technical committees are engaged, in accordance with a proposal of Sir John Simon's which gained 'unanimous support, in deciding precisely what weapons may be regarded as fundamentally aggressive in character. This is obviously a case in which expert advice is necessary, but equally Obviously a case for reminding the experts all the time that they are the servants of the statesmen. It is possible to argue indefin- itely about degrees of aggressiveness, and the heads of delegations may have in the end to step in and give final rulings themselves. The Italian list of aggressive weapons, which corresponds closely to the French, has received general support. To accept it would be to concede five- sixths of the German demand for equality of treatment.
* * * *
