The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1898-06-07
HUNTING FOR REASONS
IN FAVOR OF ANGLo-AMERICAN
ALLIANCE
WHAT AMERICA HAS TO OFFER
Looms Up Bigger as the Briton Con-
siders His Position Of Splendid
Isolation
Associated Press Special Wire

Associated Press Special Wire
NEW YORK. June Gone Of the ques-
lions asked by Englishmen since Mr..
Chamberain's unexpected advocacy of an
Anglo-American alliance, is a practical one,
says the London correspondent of the
Tribune.
What have the Americans" they in
quire, ito offer us in return for our moral
| support and naval prestige? We can I'M
derstand how much they have to gain
from an alliance with the power having
the strongest fleet afioat, especially If they
are bent upon changing their foreign pol
Icy and taking an active part in East In
dian as we'll as West Indian affairs. But
an alliance must be based upon equivalent
advantages What compensation will there
be for England in return for the tremen-
dous power Of her navy?"
These are questions which are constant
ly put to Americans living in London.
The best reply which can be made to
questions of this kind is that an alliance
with America will be the strongest safe
guard against the failure Of Englands
food supply in time of war The statisti-
clans have shown that the wheat harvest
of the United Kingdom is only equal to
the requirements of fourteen weeks and
that the remaining thirty-eight weeks An
imported supply is the only source. Dur
ing the greater part of the year there is
never more than six weeks supply of
wheat In England. If importations Of food
were cut off or partly interrupted the price
of bread would rise and large portion of
the population would be exposed to star
walton. This is the real source of danger
in time of war, as every sober minded
Englishman knows.
The United Kingdom with it's insular po-
sition and it's powerful fleet would be Sc
cure from invasion, but 1t would not be
protected against famine. No safeguard
would be so invaluable to England as a
good understanding with America, whence
the largest share Of the imported food sup
ply is drawn. Such an understanding
would be worth as much as a powerful
auxiliary navy. The Yerburgh commits
sion on national wheat stores has recently
made an exhaustive report on the SUBJ
ject of the food resources of the United
Kingdom and recommended the purchase
and storage by the British government of
ply for the emergency of war. This stor-
age scheme Is advocated on the ground
that fourteen weeks supply of food is an
indispensable requirement of national de-
Tense. 1t is not likely that any action will
be taken by Parliament upon this report.
With the relations between America and
England constantly improving there Is GER
tainly no urgency for this storage project
a., O,,k en-
such report, with its unimpeachable
proofs of the dependence of England upon
imported food, has not been without Sig
nificance. The report Is storehouse of
practical arguments for Englshmen who
are seeking for evidence of the utility of a
treaty with the United States.
There Is another comment which is fire.
quently made by Englishmen upon the pro-
posals for an Anglo-Amercan alliance.
This relates to the necessity of imposing
upon the United States an obligation to in
crease Its standing army and to develop the
fighting resources of its navy. Tho objec-
ton is raised that an ally who could not be
depended upon to mobilize an army of $1,000
men at short notice would be Of little use in
an emergency. Men who take this view re-
fer to the fact that the American squadron
powerful to crush the Spanish fleet In the
Philippines, has been unequal to the naval
forces of England, France, Germany and
Russia in these waters and must be largely
increased and supplied with coal from the
stations and dry docks If there is to be CO.
operation with Great Britain on equal
terms. Otherwise an alliance would be a
one-sded bargain, with the obligations sad
H.
tages enjoyed by the United States at
minimum cost and without an adequate
sense of the responsibility.
Those who discuss the subject in this spirit
contend that one of the conditions Of an
alliance must be an obligation on the part
of the United States to increase the effici-
ency Of the navy to maintain powerful
fleet in the West Indies with base under
American control and to double the strength
Of the standing army on peace footing.
Any proposition for an effective alliance
between the two countries relates to an ex-
change of territories to be effected for
mutual advantages. Englishmen who have
accurate knowledge of the condition of their
West Indian possessions are in despair over
their future. Sugar islands are doomed,
they assert as dependencies of a country
whose free trade policy does not permit
tariff determinations in Great Brtains
favor. The United States, on the other
hand, with it's tariff system and with It's
great market for sugar. may be expected to
develop their resources and restore their
prosperity. Why should not Jamaica and
other islands. ask these candid Englishmen
be added to the American Union after Cuba
has been redeemed from misery and ruin?
Will II not be possible to arrange a basis of
exchange by which islands like the Philip
pines can be transferred to England, with
her superior facilities for governing them
in connection with other remote states of
the empire, and some of the West Indian
possessions be handed over to the United
States with a tariff system and a market
precisely adapted to their economic re-
Quirements?
These are illustrations Of the practical
spirit in which the projected alliance be-
tween the countries Is tentatively discussed
by thoughtful men in England.
Since reference Is made to the undercur-
rent of English opinion rather than to the
foam and sparkle of press discussion on the
surface, 1t is necessary to speak of the con-
servatism OF public thought which depre-
Gates an immediate alliance between Eng
land and America as III advised and calcu-
lated to do more harm than good. Many of
the truest friends. of America In England
take this view. They contend that the
countries under an improved state of good
feeling already have ali the practical adj
Inconvenience and drawbacks. They as
H.