Armament > Memorandum on the proposals of the Netherlands delegation

Official No.: Conf. D. 108.
Geneva, April nth, 1932.
LEAGUE OF NATIONS
CONFERENCE FOR THE REDUCTION AND LIMITATION OF ARMAMENTS
MEMORANDUM ON THE PROPOSALS OF THE
NETHERLANDS DELEGATION
The Hague, April 2nd, 1932.
1. LIMITATION AND REDUCTION OF IMMEDIATELY MOBILISABLE ARMED
FORCES.
(VII, page 6 of the Co-ordination, Table, Conf.D.102.)
The speech made by the first delegate of the Netherlands on February 15th contained
the following suggestions :
“ Limitation and reduction must be applied to the whole of the armed forces
immediately mobilisable. Consequently they must comprise :
“ (a) Trained reserves, in the first instance by reducing the contingent ;
“ {b) Etc.”
The Netherlands delegation regards the limitation of these reserves as one of the most
important elements of a real limitation of armaments.
If the limitation is confined to the effectives under the colours in time of peace, the great
armies which a State might use in order to start a war might continue to exist without any
reduction or any other limitation than the natural limitation resulting from the birth rate.
The limitation and any reduction prescribed for the average effectives per day in peace time
may be effected by fixing and, if necessary, reducing the number of days of real service
compulsory for each man, without reducing the annual contingent by a single man. In drawing
attention to this immediate consequence of the system of limiting the personnel, which is
adopted in the draft Convention, there is no intention of making a malevolent supposition,
but merely of revealing one of the essential traits of this system. The reason given on many
occasions in the Preparatory Commission for rejecting the limitation of trained reserves was
precisely that it is inadmissible to discriminate between the young men of the same annual
class ; democracy, it was said, demands equality of burdens and sacrifices ; the system of
conscription would therefore necessarily involve all able-bodied young men being called up.
In this manner, the great war armies would continue to exist, although most of the elements
composing them would be on leave. It may be supposed that these armies would not be without
the necessary material.
The Netherlands delegation cannot believe that this state of affairs is inevitable. It is
still convinced that, even if the system of conscription is retained, it is possible to reduce
the war effectives of the armed forces. It ventures to point out that, in the Netherlands, the
recruiting of armed forces takes place on a system of conscription under which the young men
called up for compulsory military service are chosen each year by drawing lots up to the number
fixed by law. In equity, exceptions may be made in the case of the military service of an elder
brother or of a man maintaining his family by his work. The experience in the Netherlands
does not confirm the supposition that a system of drawing lots would be considered by the
Series of League of Nations Publications
S. d. N. 3.330 (F.) 2.475 (A.) 4/32 Imp. du J. de G.
IX. DISARMAMENT
1932. IX. 34.