"Reduction of Tonnage Which American People Want Will Not be Achieved," Says Friedrich--Big Business Important

"I fear the reduction in tonnage which the American people want will not be achieved at London," C.J. Friedrich, assistant professor of Government, told a CRIMSON reporter yesterday. "Our delegation, I believe, is chiefly bent on prolonging negotiations, to save its face and to postpone financial trouble at home.

"If you could look behind the scenes in London I think you would find that the vital fact is not so much the technical problem of cruisers and submarines as the pressure of big industries on the governments. Since armaments still form 25 percent of our government budget the steel industry, remembering what the disarming of Germany did to the Krupp works, is still strong for a big navy.

"Hoover's solution of this problem is sound. He would reduce armaments at London and turn the attention of the steel business towards bridges, dams, and other useful public constructions. But unfortunately this cannot be done very easily abroad."

Asked if the United States are not more in danger of attack against their commerce than against their shores, Professor Friedrich replied, "Yes; the pernicious phrase 'magnificent isolation' has blinded many Americans to the true state of things. President Hoover has said that one American in ten is dependent on our foreign trade. The matter cannot be stated as simply as that, but it is certain that the fate of American goods exported abroad and confronted by European tariffs has great bearing on American domestic industries."

Asked if elimination of tariff boundaries would lighten the work of naval conferences by removing one of the causes of war, Professor Friedrich said, "Yes, I am convinced that the principle of free trade is sound, but to put it in practice is a difficult matter. Now obviously you can't abolish all tariffs suddenly. What is needed is a policy of long-continued, gradual reduction, and it is woefully hard for a country to stick to such a policy when the government changes every four years or oftener."