The Preparatory Commission for a Disarmament Conference of the League of Nations meets to day to resume those discussions which last May proyed so fruitless as to warrant their long adjournment. Within the last week, France has made it only too clear that President Coolidge's somewhat ill-timed proposal can expect no Gallic support. And Russia still stands aloof on the edge of Europe, an inevitable bar to any effective disarmament in Europe.

The situation would be discouraging in the extreme were it for the growing conviction among intelligent observers that disarmament can from now on be but a gesture under any circumstances. Within the last fortnight, Mr. Wells, of singular prophetic accuracy, has declared that no soldier is as obsolete today as the Greek phalanx. General Pershing said that the recognized armament of any nation in the next war will have nothing to do with its success or failure. And even Mr. Coolidge has been quoted to the effect that God and righteousness are the only true national weapons of defense.

That the next war will be a thing quite different from what we know as war seems the accepted belief even of orthodox military experts. The use of chemicals, of gas, of long range projectiles, of legions of unexploited destructive agencies was just begun in the most recent war. Since then, there has been time to perfect and to elaborate the tentutive theories and knowledge which at first directed their use. That these will make war a more horrible enterprise than ever before seems obvious, but there are those like Mr. Wells, who will welcome their advent in the hope that their very effectiveness and potency will do more than any possible disarmament conference to outlaw war.