Sitting Down

(See front cover)

The Gods, Goddesses, Saints and Celestial Powers about to exert their benevolence last week at the opening in London of the Five-Power Naval Conference were of two kinds, Christian and Pagan: Christian

First the Most Holy Trinity, consisting of God the Father, Christ the Savior and the Holy Ghost, with the faith of Protestants and notably Quakers centered in the Savior, Prince of Peace.

Second the Most Blessed Virgin, Mary, Mother of the Savior, upon whose intercession with Him most Catholics, but especially those of France and Italy, placed their chief reliance.

Third the various maritime and naval Christian saints: Christopher, Erasmus, Nicholas, Andrew, etc. Pagan

First the Shinto Sun Goddess, Amaterasu O-Mikami, Divine Ancestress of the Son of Heaven, the Emperor Hirohito of Japan. His Majesty stated that he communed with Her at length before imparting final and inspired orders of the Japanese Delegation.

Second the Supreme Avatar Buddha of Japan, by no means always in sympathy with the aims and aspirations of the Sun Goddess.

Third the Venerable Pantheon of more than 500 Buddhist saints, more than 100,000 Shintoist saints.

Mobilization for Peace. Earth dwellers took the following steps to mobilize the Heavenly Hosts:

In London the Most Reverend Father in God, Cosmo Gordon Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England, postulated: "The success of the Conference closely concerns the advancement of the Kingdom of God on Earth. It claims, and we are confident it will receive, the earnest and united prayers of all Christian people." In harmony with the Primate's appeal the congregations of all British Protestant churches, and all those represented by the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, and many another, resolved to pray simultaneously on the eve of the Conference.

At Rome the Supreme Pontiff, His Holiness Achille Ambrogio Damiano Ratti, Pope Pius XI, addressed to the Most High in the hearing of Catholics a great and fervent prayer, after performing the Supreme Miracle of changing bread and wine into the body and blood of the Prince of Peace.

In Kyoto, ancient and sacred seat of Shintoism, the priests and acolytes of the

Sun Gods observed mysteries and worked wonders, quite as holy and astonishing in the eyes of Japanese as those at Rome, but secretly. In the temples and before the enormous bronze image of the Great Buddha, the Just and the Compassionate, humble Japanese were prostrate.

If there was among the Delegates at London any bad or evil man, the Gods of two hemispheres were alert to damn him according to his faith, or to blast him should he have none.

Candidate for Blasting? A very good man according to his friends, and a very bad one in the estimation of his enemies, is Prime Minister Andre ("L'Americain") Tardieu of France, curt go-getter. More than any other Chief Delegate this square-jawed little Frenchman in a suit as angular as Ambassador Dawes's, held the fate of the Conference between his fingers-- short, nimble fingers which he has a trick of snapping once as a sort of jazz accompaniment to his jaunty shrug.*

The recent Tardieu memorandum to the Powers seriously jeopardized the Conference in advance (TIME, Jan. 6), by dragging in such issues as "Freedom of the Seas" (which Statesmen Hoover and MacDonald had agreed is too inflammable to touch) and by disparaging the Kellogg Pact, which they months ago announced would be the cornerstone of their Great Peace (TiME, Oct. 21). If hard, kinetic, calculating M. Tardieu does not retreat at London a long way from his earlier positions there will be nothing to do but make a pact of less than five signatories, without France, or call the Conference a failure.

As the Prime Minister of France, crowned with the laurels of great achievements as Minister of Public Works,* crowned again with a large measure of success at The Hague Conference (see p. 25), it is natural that Andre Tardieu should shine in a white halo of dazzling, electric, go-getting virtues. But his portrait has also been done in black by the European publicist Simson Carasco, no liar though he somewhat exaggerates:

"Andre Tardieu is corruption personified. He is the typical professional patriot that is to be found in every country. Furthermore, Tardieu endangers the peace of France both at home and abroad. A certain French politician has said of him that he resembles a pig in his enjoyment of filth and dirt, and his very name lends itself to a play on words: 'Tardieu,' or 'dieu des tares,' meaning 'god of imperfections.' One of the deputies in the Chamber said to him publicly, 'There are certain individuals whose dishonesty is universally recognized but who remain unpunished. You. Mr. Tardieu, are the last man in the world who has any right to accuse another of being a thief.' Poincare himself once wrote, ironically, 'I do not dispute Mr. Tardieu's ability to give me lessons in politics and morality. . . .'

"During the War, the great patriot Tardieu went to America to buy ships for France but what he really did there still remains a mystery. He was also the man who, together with Klotz, the finance minister, liquidated the American stocks in France when the War was over. Poincare has characterized this liquidation as follows: 'Of the $2,933,000,000 that France spent in America on the War, $1,840,000,000 went into illegitimate profits.' The man responsible for this was Tardieu. And in conclusion we must also remark that it was he and not Klotz who said to the Chamber of Deputies on September 3rd, 1919, when asked who would make good the losses incurred in buying American goods, 'Germany will pay.'

"In the documents from the Russian secret archives which L'Humanite published in 1923, it appears that Tardieu received regular payments during the years of 1912 and 1913 from the secret fund of the Russian government, to support Russian policy in the columns of Le Temps, where he wrote the leading articles on foreign politics, and, as a true servant of the Tsar, attacked the French ambassador in Saint Petersburg. . . ."

White and black, then, are the colors of the Key Man at the Naval Conference. If he fails to get what he wants, he will not have the excuse of Aristide Briand, "The Golfer of Cannes." In 1922 at the Cannes Conference, Golfer David Lloyd George persuaded his French colleague to play a round. Tout Paris, which can become deadly serious as easily as gay, was outraged that two Prime Ministers should stoop from mighty issues to address a pair of little white balls. And the derisive soubriquet "Le Golfeur!"helped M. Briand to lose his sixth Prime Ministry. Since then French times have changed. Frenchmen are now accustomed to golf. Should U. S. Secretary of State Stimson, who has leased a British estate with a private nine-hole course, invite L'Americain, who is a determined linksman, for a friendly get-together round during some strained moment of the Conference, Tardieu will not be able to beg off on personal or political grounds, though of course there is always the weather.

Parity, Pacts, Ships. Issues waiting to be hashed, and partial achievements already parboiled by the chief cooks of the Conference, were:

Parity

Anglo-U. S. President Hoover, Prime Minister MacDonald and spokesmen for all political parties in both countries champion the principle of placing the U. S. and British navies on a basis of absolute parity.

Franco-Italian. A conciliatory offer by-Dictator Mussolini to accept parity of the Italian Navy with the French was flatly rejected by Prime Minister Tardieu last week. Correspondents were significantly reminded at the French Foreign Office that in 1914 the Navy of France surpassed that of Italy.

Pacts

Five-Power. President Hoover's men will most urgently insist on a Five-Power Pact but face the alternative of a Four or even a Three-Power Pact, should France and perhaps Italy balk. Less than unanimity would mean that Powers which signed would have to do so with the reservation that they could tear up the treaty and start naval building again if menaced by competition from a non-signatory. Indeed even a Five-Power Pact must contain some such reservation to protect the signatories in case Soviet Russia should start building warboats. The French professed last week that they wanted a "short" Five-Power Treaty, to be signed at London, for a duration of five years, then to be absorbed into a General Disarmament Treaty of the League of Nations which the U. S. might by that time have joined.

Mediterranean Locarno. In Rome last week Dictator Mussolini rejected a plan for art Anglo-Franco-Hispano-Italian Mediterranean Treaty of Naval Security proposed by Prime Minister Tardieu from The Hague. Il Duce suggested a bilateral Franco-Italian pact instead, but L'Americain would have none of it. Ever since the War, the chief aim of France has been to get her security guaranteed by a group of Powers, which explains her passionate fondness for the League of Nations.

Kellogg. The Tardieu memorandum disparaging the Kellogg Pact (see above) drew the sharp retort from London last week that "His Majesty's government desire to remove the error upon which this [the French] observation rests." In effect Ramsay MacDonald told Andre Tardieu that Britain thinks well enough of the

Kellogg Pact to make it the basis for cutting her cruiser fleet from 70 to 50 ship?, which she is now ready to do according to an official statement earlier in the week by First Lord of the Admiralty Albert V. Alexander. The MacDonald memorandum threw cold water on the Tardieu proposal for a Mediterranean pact, and sidestepped the French project for a stronger League of Nations with the remark that the Kellogg Pact and the League Covenant may be considered "complementary." Ships

Submarines. As chief of the greatest surface naval power, Prime Minister MacDonald secured the assent of President Hoover to the basically British view that the submarine should be totally abolished. But there is no reason to think that France, Italy or Japan will ever give up this cheap and effective knife-in-the-belly. And the U. S. Navy would really like to keep it, as a coast-defense weapon. Abolition of the submarine will not be achieved at London and the chances of limitation look poor.

Destroyers and Cruisers. In the destroyer category it may be possible to strike a simple ratio among the Powers, but cruisers come in so many sizes of such widely different fighting power that they present a highly complex problem in comparison, perhaps to be solved with the famed "Hoover Yardstick" (TIME, Sept. 23). Exactly what this is the Engineer-President has never publicly explained; and the Sea Lords of the British Admiralty to whom it has been privately explained have never been enthusiastic. But last week Ramsay MacDonald said in his hearty ringing way: "We shall deal with every class of warship, from dreadnoughts to submarines! Great Britain, with the full consent of the Admiralty up to now, is prepared to make proposals which will mean a considerable reduction in naval programs."

Dreadnoughts or Capital Ships are already limited to 35,000 tons maximum each by the Washington Treaty which further apportioned their numbers among the U. S., Britain, and Japan in the famed ratio 5-5-3. The Japanese are willing enough to extend the ratio principle to cruisers, destroyers and perhaps even submarines, but they want a new set of numerals, 10-to-7. So far as Capital Ships alone are concerned it should prove easy to agree on their continued limitation.

P:Gold and Silver plating was dexterously applied last week to the ornate microphone through which George V will be heard on Jan. 21 opening the Naval Conference over a radio network which will practically put the whole world within five inches of His Majesty's lips and beard.

Every Briton who owns a radio set must pay ten shillings a year ($2.50) license fee, unless he is blind, in which case the Government licenses his set free. His Majesty's own listening set is an elaborate affair but appallingly old (four years). Palace servants will use it to catch his words, uttered in the historic Banquet Hall of the House of Lords.

Imperial Prostration. By way of kowtowing and prostrating himself before the most powerful oligarchy of modern times--the dry Senators of the U. S., whose votes will be needed to ratify any Naval Pact which may be made--the King-Emperor directed last week that the Refreshment Room in St. James's Palace shall serve no intoxicants for the duration of the Conference.

* As the shoulders rise the second fingers of the right and left hands snap simultaneously from thumb to palm with a crisp double report. * In 1927 he adjusted a six-month dispute between the miners and mineowners of northern France which had threatened to tie up the entire French coal industry.

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