the newspapers have been pressing during the past two months for the publication
of all the
papers relating to the anglo french agreement and when at last they had been made public they were very indignant to find there was nothing that anyone could possibly object to in all that had been done they then complained that it was not all made public before when there is nothing of any serious consequence to make public it is very difficult
to make it
public when an agreement has been reached between
great britain and france
to leave off criticizing various points in each other's technical armaments as a step forward towards the larger measure of agreement if possible for world disarmament
there is no reason why
it should be made public until the different powers to whom we communicated it including
the united states
had replied to the communication which we made and having preferred to await their replies we did not think it right to move from that position by the criticism or clamour in certain sections of the press now however that the whole is laid before them they are disappointed to find
that there is
nothing or very little in it the discussion of the last two years has tended to bring naval military and air matters into a position of international consequence and prominence which is not at all warranted by anything in the present peaceable state
of the world
governments have been forced to examine all sorts of imaginary and immature possibilities which will never be translated into reality if any of the great and free democracies
of the world
are able to make their opinion prevail in order not to give offence to anyone i will use a parable once upon a time all the animals in the zoo decided that they would disarm and they arranged to have a conference to arrange the matter so the rhinoceros said when he opened the proceedings that the use of teeth was barbarous and horrible and ought to be strictly prohibited by general consent horns which were mainly defensive weapons would of course have to be allowed the buffalo the stag the porcupine and even the little hedgehog all said they would vote with the rhino but the lion and the tiger took a different view they defended teeth and even claws which they described as honourable weapons of immemorial antiquity the panther the leopard the puma and the whole tribe of small cats all supported the lion and the tiger then the bear spoke he proposed that both teeth and horns should be banned and never used again for fighting by any animal
it would be
quite enough if animals were allowed to give each other a good hug when they quarreled no one could object to that it was so fraternal and that
would be a
great step towards peace however all the other animals were very offended with the bear and the turkey fell into a perfect panic the discussion got so hot and angry and all those animals began thinking so much about horns and teeth and hugging when they argued about the peaceful intentions that had brought them together that they began to look at one another in a very nasty way luckily the keepers were able to calm them down and persuade them to go back quietly to their cages and they began to feel quite friendly with one another again