Evening Star Newspaper, February 14, 1932, Page 27

Editorial Page — EDITORIAL SECTION The Sundwy Star. Part 2--8 Pages WASHINGTON, D. C, SUNDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 14, 1932. LEAGUE POWER TO HALT WAR FACES FIRST TEST World Watching Ac bly, With Future Peace Declared to Be in BY PAUL SCOTT MOWRER. ENEVA.—For the first time in Nations the full assembly is ahout to be convoked to try to halt a war, namely, the is taken. China itsclf asked the League to convoke the assembly immediately in a note delivered Friday. can actually sattle the conflict, where the council so obviously failed. But the small stats are restive. They feel that stand that what is_at stake is not merely peace in th: Far East, but the world’s entire peace organization and There is widespread disapprobation that the council has apparently allowed the negotiations to pass into the hands France independently of the League. ‘There will. therefore, probably be some anxious speeches from the small states the history of the League of Sino-Japanese conflict. ' The decision Nobody believes that the assembly the big powers have failed to under- even the immediate future of Europe. of the United States. Great Britain and when the assembly meets. Condemnation of Japan Seen. There is talk of a solomn resolution condemning Japan's aggression and ap- pezling to Japan to respect its signa- to the covenant of the League, the logg anti-war pact and the nine- or China treal There is even talk the assembly's recommending its members to break diplomatic relations with Japan. Spain. it is intimated, has been ready to do this for some time on the simple grounds of international morality Meanwhile there is reliable informa- tion that the British government is be- finning to understand that the issues In this Sino-Japanese conflict far ex- ceed Manchuria and Shanghai. It is beginning to understand that the pres- tige of the western powers throughout Asia, including India. is seriously threatened and that if the peoples con- tinus to lose confidence in the League, and especially in the big powers. as they are now doing. not only will disarma- ment be impossible. but international anarchv based solely on the rule of force is the immediate outlook. Great Britain, therefore, for the first time begins to be in a mood to act. Its only hesitation is said to be doubt whether the United States will back whatever steps the League, under British impulsion, may decide to take. All this means that the statesmen here 2ssembled from every part of the world for the disarmiment conference are realizing what was pointed out from the outset in these dispatches: That dis- ament without fist making political ce is literally out of the question. Basis of Political Peace. _ Political peace is generally agreed to Cevend on three present issues: 1. The Sino-Japanese conflict. 2. The French-Italian dispute. 3. The French-German-Polish dis- over treaty revision. cden’s delegate has stressed the t that a mere technical disarma- ..du agreement is not enough. He sald: “There must also be & political rap- prochement between the different powers and there must be a settlement of the great problems of reparations and international debts,” added, affect almost all the nations. Already in the private conversations these various problems are being tacked. For the moment the Sino- Japanese issue dominates all. Unless peace can be re-established in the Far East nobody seriously thinks that dis- armament can succeed. Therefore re- newed efforts to re-establish this peace are impending. But, in addition, the French and Italians are beginning to talk, Brazil, Chile and Argentina on the one hand and the Danubian states on the other, it seems, are negotiating regional un- derstandings, and in the course of pri- vate talks between German Chancellor Heinrich Bruening, French War Min- ister Andre Tardieu and British For- eign Minister Sir John Simon, a new Teparations conference on a new basis next June has been virtually agreed upon. In other words, Geneva for the mo- ment has become the political center of the world. Disarmament Parley Starts Well. ‘The World Disarmament Conference, in the opinion of all the delegates, has started unexpectedly well. Many doors have been opened, but none have been closed. There already are sufficient | grounds for a moderately successful negotiation. Hopes are mounting and the possibilities are numerous. One thing already is clear, namely, that the conference thus far has been completely dominated by qualitative as compared with quantitative disarma- ment. This means that it is proposed to divide armaments into offensive and defensive and to abolish, as far as pos- sible, those considered offensive. The following. it is suggested, should either be abolished altogether or re- duced in size: Captial ships, airplane carriers, planes, submarines, which, he| heavy | tions of Full Assem- Balance. | artillery, both sea and land bombing planes and tanks. Like nearly every other method of | disarmament, this method is open to | many objections. Experts nearly all agree that the alleged distinction be- | tween offensive and defensive weapons is entirely arbitrary. Even the simile | of bayonets is offense, if you charge | another man therswith, and defensive | if he is charging on All weapons used as means of invasion aie offen- sive: as a means of repelling an in- vasion they are defensive. Defense at Sea. Defense at sea means ultimately de- fense of one’s sea-borne commerce, and | this in wartime depends upon defeat- ing the enemy’s fleet. Bombing planes | are offensive over ano:her’s territory and defensive if used to repel invaders. Prohibitions of certaln weapons, say | experts, tend to create the illusion that | war can be made less terrible. What is required is to end war, not to try to | humanize it. At the beginning of the | American Civil War, it is pointed out, | both the North and the South were | disarmed. yet the war continued and | was one of ‘the worst in history. There | is doubt whether prohibitions agreed | to_in treaty will be observed in war. | | , The Japanese in a speech here | | favored ‘the protection of the civilian | population from bombing, yet at the | very moment of speaking they were :humhermg hundreds of helpless Chi- | | nese men, women and children with air | | bombs. | One of the European delegates has unearthed the curious fact that the Roman Catholic Church at the Lateran |Council of 1139 in Rome declared | | anathema on all who used the new | type of long, hard arrows just then in- | vented. These arrows were declared contrary to the divine law of equal chances because they could strike down |a knight from ambush as much as 50 | yards away. | Anathema in those days was dreadful punishment before which even Kings quailed, yet the new arrows continued | to be made and the knights in conse- quence had to adopt heavy armor. Weaken Industrial Nations. Finally these prohibitions, it is said, | if observed, tend to weaken the indus- |trial in the face of nonindustrial na- tions. If mot observed they give undue | | advantage to industrial nations, which | can manufacture prohibited arms while | iothers cannot. For this reason, it is| | feared, the prohibitions will tend to | keep tariffs in countries which are try- | ing to develop potential war industries. | Despite these numerous objections in- | dications are that, provided the nations | |can agree on what to prohibit, some | important prohibitions or abolitions will | be made here, for the public opinion seems to favor them and politicians | want to make political capiial thereof and everybody wants to save money on expensive sorts of equipment. Following Germany’s lead, there is a | tendency among industrial countries to- | day to put money into. subsidizing po- tential war industries rather than into costly weapons which may be outmoded or overaged before they are ever needed. | Real Peace Declared Necessary. ‘The principal delegates here, while extolling the idea of abolition of of- fensive armaments, admit privately that distinctions are arbitrary and ad- mit also that if the conference finally succeeds it will be because, under the cover of disarmament, occasion is taken to make real peace in both Asia and | Europe. They fully realize that, unless and | until peace is made—that is to say, as| long as tension and suspicion remain | paramount—the nations will haggle so over details that no technical arrange- ments will ever be reached. If, how- ever, peace could be made, then dis- armament, would be relatively easy. It is, therefore, as a means to pro- moting peace—in particular, _peace which is so essential between France and Germany—that the subject of abolitions is being studied by some of the delegates. It will be recalled that the arms which it is suggested now should be prohlbited to all were already pro- hibited to Germany by the Versailles treaty. At the time this was done, not as an ideal plan for disarmament, but to weaken Germany while leaving the allies strong. Now, however, Germany | claims that either the others must | abolish these weapons or Germany | must regain the right to possess them. | | The French have only gone half| way to meet Germany on this point | by implying that Germany may have these weapons if it declares that it is ready, like France, to hold them at the disposition of the League of Nations and other powers. However, they pre- fer to abolish them altogether rather than see Germany rearm. This is the real interest of abolitions and prohi- bitions, as far as it concerns this| | Franco-German peace problem, which, | | indeed, is declared to underlie much | | of the world’s present unrest. (Copyright. 1932.) Hunting of Witches in Danube Valley Keep Police Busy Saving Old Women| VIENNA,—It is no crime to consider 4t unlucky if you break a mirror in Central Europe, but there are some forms of superstition which lately have given the police of some of the more rural districts of the Danube basin con- siderable worry. . ‘The prevalent belief in witches. which persists in the country areas of Eastern Slovakia, Hungary and Carpathian Russia, has recently caused several crimes or attempted crimes of violence against more or women, who, living alone in small cottages, have in some way or other brought the wrath of farming communi- ties down on them. One of the latest examples of witch- hunting was revealed in Eastern Slo- vakia when a group of villagers from Novoselice attacked an old woman and attempted to burn her in the belief that she was spiriting their children away or casting spells on them, thus causing them to come home late from school or to disappear entirely. The intervention of the gendarmerie prevented the burning In another community the entire district was aroused by the illness of the pigs. A hunt for a witch failed to reveal any old woman living in any suspicious hut alone and given to fortune telling, crystal gazing or brewing of love potions. As a recourse, the citizens prevailed upon one of their own number to per- form pig-protecting anties around the grave of one of the most recently deceased inhabitants, these rites being designed, according to an old belief, to ward off the desease from cattle. All would have gone sufficiently well and the pigs may or may not have been cured, but the police again interfered ‘with the full procedure of the rites when they arrested the high priest or rites performer, not because he was super- stitious, but because he was immodest. The dance around the grave wag being less harmless old | | performed by the ritualist stark naked. Now and then witchery charges have been brought into the courts, a recent case attaining considerable publicity in Jugoslavia, where a young girl sued an elderly woman for false representation in a love charm. The young woman lost her army sergeant's love and she went to the old woman of the village, she told the court, and paid all her monthly savings numerous times for a | love brew. After nearly two years of payments | and consumption of the mystic potion | the young woman discovered she was | merely taking powered eggshells in hot | water, and since the combination | neither did her stomach any good nor served to bring back the sergeant and | ease to her heart, she sued for the | return of her money. (Copyrigh o 1932.) Barge Elevator Lifts 4,200 Tons in 20 Minutes BERLIN, Germany—Only three men will be needed to operate the largest barge elevator in the world. This elevator is nearing completion and will improve canal traffic between Stettin and Berlin. Formerly it was necessary to elevate water craft laboriously through four consecutive locks to pass the 108-foot rise at Nieder-Finow. Two hours were lost. Now less than twenty minutes are required and only one lock is The new elevator will life 4,200 tons and accommodates 1,000-ton barges. The top of the barge elevator is over 150 feet high and is connected by a 500-foot-long bridge with the bed of the canal at the top of the elevation. The whole installation looks like & skyscraper erected in & count &) ack of the Shanghai Crisis It Does Not Pay to Bully China and Japan Will Find It Out Says Noted Diplomat. A PICTURESQUE CORNER IN THE NATIVE SECTION O'F SHA NGHAI-FROM A COLORED ETCHING BY ELIZABETH KEITH. BY COUNT CARLO SFORZA, Former Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister to China. less —Brussels, where the newspaper dispatches—that | T is not because I happen to write | from a peaceful European capital some hotel or club in Shanghai. shooting | and bloodshed of Shanghai are an- | the trouble and paradoxical years of the | personal triumph tco far: nounced & few hours later by color- | fall of the Manchu dynasty, one has | mediocre compromise to I |learned not to gauge the development | versary may accustom himself is wort) legations in Peking, a short distance from the august yellow titles of the old | Forbidden City (as I did for five years | peoples, and which may be applied to | churia, e | of my life), or even if I were writing |the present Japanese policy toward | Violence would be capable of unraveling under the fire of Japanese afrplanes in When one has witnessed, as I did. realize how great is the difficulty of | of Asiatic affairs with the paltry aris- shaping any forecasts. I should feel | tocracy preciseness of our Aryan form bound to circumspection just as great |las. But although we may have no i were I writing from one of the solemn | mediate certainties, there are, neverthe- less, a few traditicnal truths which | underlie th> political history of all | China. | One of these is that, in foreign | politics. o which the ad- | h more tkan the most satisfactory of treaties, when those treaties are satis- factory only to the victorious party. | The Tokio government seems to have | overlooked this truth when, having barely achieved its success in Man- it assumed that measures of the knot of the anti-Japanese boycott. Why should the success which Japan and even more so, over the boycott? How can Japanese diploracy have fall- en into such an error of judgment? To answer these questions—the only | questions one can reasonably put at (Continued on Fourth Page.) SLAVE TRADE TO CEASE AS KINGDOM JOINS LEAGUE Irak, Carved Out of Turkish Territory, Pledged to Abolish Ancient Custom of Human Servitude. BY ALBIN E. JOHNSON. ENEVA. — Among the slave marts of the Middle East, G where a goodly number of the five millions of human beings now held in bondage are bought, , snd traded, countless dramas are enacted — dramas and tragedies which mean nothing there, but which weigh heavily in the bal- ance of so-called international morality. The Kingdom of Irak, carved out of Turkish territory after the Worl War, and now ruled by the Emir Fei- sul, on admission into the League, as a result of the recommendation of the Mandates Commission and the request of the British government, will be pledged to abolish slavery, just as | Abyssinia was pledged to wipe out the infamous traffic in human bodies when Addis Ababa was granted “full and complete political equality” with other nations when Atyssinia was taken into the League a few years ago. Ethiopia has not lived up to her contract in the intervening years; whether the Arabian Kingdom, where slavery is a social and religious custom, will be able to carry out a similar pledge remains to be seen. Adjacent to Feisul's domain lles the Yeman, Nejd and other territories dominated by Ib'n Sa'ud, grand sheriff of Mecca and King of the Hedjaz. It is the most fertile slave market that exists today. In the records of the League are to be found many damning documents on slavery in Arabia. Theoretically Ib'n Sa'ud’s domain is a ‘“closed book,” none but the faithful being admitted. The Mandates Commission, however, has been informed aushoritatively that the trans-Red Sea traffic yearly approximates 10,000 men, women and children. The recent discovery of an island slave market indicates a much wider scope than hitherto believed pos- sible with the slave patrols of Britain, France and Italy ever on guard. Agents of the market were found in Morocco, Alglers and even om the sofl;hem coast of France, at Mar- seille. - Among the League and Labor Office records 1s found a personal account of a man who accompanied slave raiders on an expedition into Africa. It gives 8 vignette of the situation better than dry statistics. ‘The report reveals how the - “observer” won the confidence of the Arab traffickers, accompanied them on their journeys and lived among them for a considerable period. The Arabs explained that the native Abyssinians were much too lazy to compete with them in the traffic. Mussulmans from the Hedjaz, Yemen and Assir are the greatest traders to- day, so far as the Red Sea littoral is concerned. “When the Abyssinians controlled the territory nearer the Sudan,” says the report, “their trade was easier. One could find men, women and chidren in large numbers for sale. Long caravans were dispatched toward Arabia. Now these provinces are conquered and the slave supply is diminishing. In fact, entire tribes are dying out.” ‘The slave trader, Said by name, re- veals that the American rum runner’s custom of hi-jacking was an old trick in the slave trade. It has been prac- ticed for centuries along the Red Sea. The paramount chiefs of the terri- tories through which the Arab slave xpense by detouring through the desert or hiding by day and travel- ing by night. The desert route is hazardous best and most Arab traders prefer pay tribute instead. Two Methods Used. sls-xdh the report says, aves by two methods, purchase Abyssinian races who owed tax and had no way of getting it through selling their slaves, and . The latter were usually ocon- at to his from i ROOSEVELT IS BY MARK SULLITAN. ITH the Democratic presi- dential situation clarified to a large extent by Gov. Smith's statement of his position, it is possible, so to speak, to make a preliminary—and very tentative—blueprint of the fleld. Franklin Roosevelt continues, as he has been for some two years, in the Jead. Whether Roosevelt's lead will be materially reduced by Smith’s an- nouncment of willingness to have del- egates elected in his behalf will not be apparent _until the primaries in large Eastern States where Smith sentiment is strong. ‘There are cohditions affecting Roose- velt's candidacy that make experienced observers doubtful about its essential strength. Roosevelt, although Governor of New York, has come to be primarily the candidate of the West. Further than that, he is more the candidate of the South than of his own section, the East. Strength in the West. The 13 westernmost States of the Union are more or less committed to Roosevelt. That looks like strength, and on paper it is, but there is some- thing about it which is, so to speak, contrary to nature. Those Western States constitute the most pregressive jon of the Democratic party. ts in those States are, if one the avowed radicals, at the ex- They express for example, in the person of Wheeler of Montara, who once ran for Vice President on a third party ticket, and is now advocating free coinage of sil- ver in precisely the same terms as Wil- J 's 1896 platform, liam Bryah P o, Strength Would STILLINLEAD DESPITE SMITH STATEMENT {But if Ex-Governor, Despite Passive Atti- tude, Commands Certain Delegates, His Be Formidable. Roosevelt's strength in the West must reflect this type of thought. The Demo- cratic voters of that territory must think that Roosevelt is their kind of man. But can this be so? If Roosevelt is the kind of candidate the extremely progressive West wants, can he also be the type that the conservative East wants? Is it in nature that Roosevelt should carry these Western Democratic | Russi primaries overwhelmingly, and also es in New England? it is completely taken for granted, it is almost a settled pro- gram, that Roosevelt is to have the delegates from most of the Western States by a kind of acclamation of com- mon consent. How can that square with his getting the delegates of the conservative East? Most of these West- ern States, perhaps all of them, are going to send delegates to the Demo- cratic convention pledged to fight for a silver plank in the platform, like Bryan’s 1 one. There will be in the convention a formidable fight for sil- ver, and if the fight for silver as a specific financial remedy is lost, there will be another for some other form of “cheap money.” North Dakota Primaries. How can this demand of the Demo- cratic West for free silver be consistent with the support of the same section for Roosevelt as the Democratic nom- inee? It is unthinkable that Roose- velt should be for free silver. If it should be thought that Roosevelt is sympathetic to any kind of ‘“cheap money” he with automatic cer- tainty, , lose New York, either in the nomination or the election. ‘The precise extent of Roosevelt’s lib- WORLD WAR WOULD FIND U. S. BEHIND IN AVIATION This Country, Now F BY JOSEPH S. EDGERTON. ERE the Sino-Japanese war- fare to develop into a world servers fear it may, the out- break of hostilities would find the United States greatly out- world powers. This country, now fourth among the | powers in the strength of the air force | bat, very soon may find itself even | further down the scale. With Japan |and Russia speeding up their produc- |soon may find itself outclassed in air strength by six world powers. | In the number of fighting planes ranking fifth today, may be driven soon into seventh place. The reserve fight- ing plane strength of the Nation is no reserve strength, the United States is in grave danger of dropping to sixth or seventh place before Summer rolls Russia Bids for Supremacy. | Based on the number of pilots in active service, this country ranks fourth | |also it is threatened by the Japanese |and Russian bids for air supremacy. | Though the United States technically | powers in trained reserve combat pilot strength, this rating is regarded by | military aviation authorities in Wash- | of the failure of Congress to provide | for the training of these men. First- | class reserve pilots today average only |and a majority of them have lost or | are rapidly losing all their value for | immediate combat duty. i Jeace-time air transport that the United ismes is able to show superiority over | other leading powers in the air | Th | tive strength of the nations in the air s | based are the result of painstaking | research over a period of six months by world. The figures, though regarded as the most accurate ever assembled, are not official, because the powers have such comparisons or issuing figures upon which an official comparison could be based. ‘There have been difficulties because of different methods among the differ- ent nations of computing available The figures, however, are regarded as the most accurate that are possible to attain. The research workers compil- New York, and were assembled through | the joint efforts of leaders of the Nation's aeronautical industries. mitted to the policy of developing avia- tion as the third arm of national de- fense, of equal importance with hnd’ | ing the results of his studies. “There are seven real air powers—the British Empire, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, “Four of these powers have air forces wholly independent of the older| branches. Great Britain has her Royal | | smaller forces in all the great dominions of the empire. France has her Army of the Air, Italy has her Regia Aeronautica conflagration, as many ob- classed in military aviation by other | it could muster immediately for com- |tion of fighting planes, this country |actually in the service this Nation, | better. Fifth among the powers in | around. among the powers, but in this position |is rated as second among the world | ington as exceedingly optimistic, in view | 49 minutes of training time a month, | It is only in naval aviation and in e figures upon which the compara- a group of experts in all parts of the | consistently refrained from making Byoir Directs Research combat strength and reserve strength. ing them were directed by Carl Byoir of *All governments are irrevocably com- and sea forces,” Byoir said in announc- | Russia ‘and the United States. Air Force, which is also a model for | and Soviet Russia her Red Air Fleet | The United States and Japan still hold that military and naval aviation have two separate and distinct functions and to unite them would be to weaken the efficiency of one or the other: so they have divided air forces with their ar- mies and fleets. “The treaty of Versailles prohibits Germany from having air forces of any description. The Reich is included here because Germany ranks with the best in civil aviation, in engineering, de- | sign and construction, in the develop- hould never push one's was able to grasp in Manchuria be dif- | ment of aerial trade routes and in-| Ciupn npr'xd that a | ficult for Japan to achieve in Shanghali, | struction of her people in the countless peacetime activities that contribute to | air power when a government declares | war. “Regardless of organization all the | Powers operate their air forces on the | same general principles. They will em- | ploy their first line tactical strength in three different ways, as occasion may require—Ist, to assist and protect the Army while the ground troops seize and | hold surface cbjectives: 2nd, escort and | defend the Fleet until it reaches its ob- jective; end 3rd, act independently in home defense or as a raiding force, swooping down upon the enemy and | obliterating him before he can strike a | decisive blow.” First Line Tactical Strength. ‘The figures upan which the report is based deal only with first line tacti- cal strength —the airplanes which | would be used in combat service if war were declared today. They do not in- | clude primary training, experimental and obsolete machines—types which form a third of the planes in most air forces, it was explained. | On this basis, the report continues, | France has the largest air force. Great Britain and the United States rival | each other in highest efficiency. with | Italy following clcsely. Japan has the | smallest air force but is making steady | progress. German aviation, while non- military in appearance, is second to | none in skill and technique. Soviet a, it was explained, is the most ambitious of all. planning to develop her Red Air Fleet until it matches the combined fcrces of Europe. The report on the total number of all fighting airplanes, both active and | reserve, of the armies, navies and in dependent air forces of the six mili- tary air powers shows France leading with more than double the strength of any other great nation. The tctals are: France, 4,683 planes; | the British Empire, including its; dominion forces, 2,065 planes; Italy, 1,834; the United States, 1,809; Russia, 1,520 and Japan, 1312, In pursuit or fighter planes of the single seater type, the backbone of any aerial offensive strength, France boasts an overwhelming superiority. She can muster a total of 1,240 of these little wasps of the air, as against 572 for Italy; 541 for the United States; 464 for Japan; 403 for the British Empire and 357 for Russia. France also is overwhelmingly superior in heavy bombardment planes, having 561 as compared with 218 for Italy, 211 for the British Empire, 209 for the United States, 82 for Japan and 72 for Russia. Specialize in Light Bombers. The British, however,shave specialized in light bombers, fixpeci_ll:léy t;t ttl:ll: ttuzh speed types and have of ype in the home and Dominion forces, as against 553 for France, 280 for Italy, 155 for Russia, 138 for Japan and only 124 for the United States. In light bombardment, the United States is hopelessly behind, not only because of ourth in Strength of Forces Ready for Combat, May Soon Be Further Down the Scale. this type, many o which are merely converted basic trafIng planes. France's greatest grength is in planes used for observation and co-operation with ground and marine forces. She has more planes of this type alone than the total military air strengths of any of the other powers. The report shows France's observation strength to be 2.- 317 planes; Russia’s, 923; the United States’, 871; Italy’s, 732; the British Empire’s, 690, and Japan's, 588. The United States is able to creep into a position of world leadership only in the number of flying boats, which are used extensively by the Navy for long range patrol purposes. The United States has 64 planes of this class, | France 32, Japan 30, the British Em= pire 28, Russia 13 and Italy 12. So do the powers stand ready for in- stant battle in the air. France, Great Britain, Italy and the United States, it was shown, maintain in some possessions units of their na- tional air forces. Australia, Canada, the Irish Free State, New Zealand and the Union of South Africa have small air forces of their own patterned after that of Great Britain and capable of quick expansion in war. India has a contingent of the British Royal Air Force. Wken the pumber of fighting air- planes in active service with the armies and independent air forces is con- sidered. France still is comfortably in the lead with 1,508. as compared with 1,176 for Italy, 1.080 for Russia, 1,070 for the British Empire, 706 for the United States and 344 for Japan. Working on “Protector” Planes. All of the powers, it was pointed out, now are working on “protector” planes. These are multi-place fighters with 6, 8 or 10 machine guns covering all angles and in some cases heavy guns firing one and one-half pound high ex- plosive shells. These planes are de- signed to fly up to altitudes of four miles and at speeds up to 170 miles per hour. When it comes to the matter of fight- ing airplanes in reserve with the armies and independent air forces, France's lead becomes overwhelming. The rec- ords show France's reserve to be 2,660 planes while the British Empire, stand- ing second, has but 683 reserve planes. Great Britain alone has but 535 planes of this type in reserve. Japan stands third with 476 planes: Italy fourth with 420, the United States fifth with 327 and Russia sixth with 300. The United States takes the leader- ship for the first time in the report when it comes to the number of Navy fighting planes active and reserve available for operations with the fleet. This country leads comfortably in this respect with 776 planes: France being second with 515: Japan third with 492; the British Empire fourth with 312; Italy filth with 238 and Russia sixth with 140, Japan and the United States are the only powers to maintain fleet eviation as separate organizations apart from toeir military air forces. Tre fleet units of the others are drawn from their in- dependent air branches, Great Britain, though fourth in the number of naval fighting planes, stands out ahead of all other powers in the number and tonnage of airplane car- riers. She has six of these vessels, with a total tonnage of 115350 tons. The United States. with its three carriers, totaling 76,286 tons. is second. The new carrier now building will bring this country’s total to 90.086 tons. Japan also has three carriers, totaling 61.270 tons and is building another which will bring its total to 68.870 tons. France has a single carrier of 21.653 tons displacement. Naval treaties limit Great Britain and the United States to 135,000 tons of carriers each and Japan to 81,000 The standing of the powers is the same in point of Navy fighting planes in active service with the fleet as the active and reserve naval plane stand- ing, the United States taking the lead with 426 planes and Japan ranking second with 254 planes France Leads In Pilots. France end Italy lead with trained pilots in active service, France with 3.591 and Italy with 3.039. The British Empire has 2.808 trained pilots in the service, the United States 2,208, Rus- sia 1947 and Japan 1216. The lists of pilots include both officers and en- listed men holding pilots’ ratings. In numbers of officers and men in the active service trained for tactical and combat duties, France has a t-tal of 39,287, the British Empire 37,853, the United States 24,943, Italy 23,404, Rus- sia 19,551 and Japan 14.308. France again takes the lead in the number of reserve of trained pilots trained for tactical and combat dutfes. Its reserve force includes 4.361 trained pilots. The United States is second with 2460. The British Empire has 1.050 trained reserve pilots, Italy 676, Russia 351 and Japan 136. Aviation reserves, however, are not strictly ccmparable because in some countries compulsory service augments the size of a reserve force, though the experience of the reservist might not be as thorough or extensive as that of a volunteer. Then too, it is pointed cut, reserve pilots are of little value in war until they have refreshed training and pass physical examinations to de- termine their fitness for active service. The reports show that the six lead- ing air powers have a total of 23.843 pilots trained for war, ethter on active duty or in reserve, France having 7.952 of this total, the United States 4.668, the British Empire 3,858, Italy 3,715, Russia 2,298 and Japan 1,352, U. S. Leads in Peace-time. In_ peace-time commercial aviation the United States leaps far into the lead. In mileage of airways the United States, with a total of 49,254 miles has more than twice the total of its near- est competitor, the British Empire, which has 22,297 miles, of which 6,203 miles are in Great Britain and the re- mainder in or conngcting its dominions The world now has more than 150,000 miles cf charted air routes. In the matter of airports, which in time of war would become flying cen- ters, available for mobilization, training and servicing, the United States has | as many as the other six leading pow- ers combined. The total shown for this country in the report is 1,205 air- ports, the British Empire being second with 507 and Russia third with 256. The United States also has twice the number of civil airplanes of the other powers combined, many of these planes being available for auxiliary duties in war, such as the transportation of men and supplies. This country boasts a total of 10,235 civil planes, the British Empire, second in this respect, being able to muster a total of 2,070 in Great tain and all its dominions, while France, third, has 1,320 civil planes. This country also has more civilian pilots than all six other powers com- bined, with a total of 16,709 as against 3,427 for the British Empire, 2,106 for Russia, 902 for Germany, 888 for France, 650 for Japan and 613 for Italy. These pilots are available for transport, auxiliary service or training in war. tremendously inferior numbers, but be- cause of the lack of speed of planes of As to airplane production in case of ~ (Continued on Third Page) . 1 1