Holding On at Geneva The Disarmament Conference is neither dead
nor very conspicuously alive. The resolution agreed on by Mr. Eden, M. Barthou and Mr. Norman Davis, and accepted by the General Commission, relegates different sections of the problem to various committees. That is an approved method of interment, but it is by no means necessarily that. The Conference has, in fact, as Mr. Eden says, been given a last chance. In particular time is provided for the return of Germany to Geneva if Germany feels like returning, and in spite of the semi-official statements given out at Berlin, it is quite possible that, as the result of the Hitler-Mussolini talk or for other reasons; she may return. That would in no sense ensure the success of the conference, but it would reduce the probability of its failure. And in connexion with the proposed security pacts, which might so easily look like being directed, if only defen- sively, against Germany, it is worth remembering that Herr Hitler has offered to negotiate non-aggression agreements with any of Germany's neighbours.. Any new pact, therefore, might well be on the Locarno model, with discrimination against no one and equal guarantees for everyone. There is still some ground- for hope at Geneva, though little enough for confidence. * * * *
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