The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-03-21
NAVAL SCARE STILL
 AFFECTS ENGLAND
One Newspaper Declares War
 Is Certain to Come
MORE BIG SHIPS NEEDED
Navy League Proposes to Enter Upon Campaign to Arouse the People to the Serious Problem
 Confronting Nation.

London, March 2o.-(s Especially naval scare is still the leading topic of the English press. The Observer says this morning:
 We must fight before 1910 or build eight Dreadnoughts now. There Is no third way"
 A dispatch from Hamburg says the German. Dreadnought vondertann, 19,- 900 tons, which was launched yester- day, Is the largest and most powerful of all the German warships. The dis patch calls attention to the fact that the launching is not mentioned in the papers.
 London, March 20.-The dramatic confession of the cabinet ministers In the recent debate on the navy in the house of commons that Germany caught the British admiralty mapping and has stolen a march on this coun- try by so expediting the construction of Dreadnoughts that Great Bratin will have little if any margin in the num- Der of new capital ships fin 1911-12 has been followed by something like panic throughout the United King dom.
 Even the so-called "black week" dur ing the Boer war, when all the Brit ish columns found themselves check mated by the Transvaal farmers, hard ly furnished parallel to the present scare and there is no doubt that were Premier Asquith at this time to give the nation chance to voice its opin- ion at the polls of the situation where by the supremacy of the British navy is threatened there would be little left of the present radical party in the commons.
 The direct vote of censure, which A. J. Balfour, leader of the opposition, will move against the government Monday, will bring the issue as to whether four or eight Dreadnoughts should be definitely included in this years naval programme squarely be- fore parliament, though there is still a chance that the national outcry will cause Premier Asquith to yield and give definite assurances that the four phantom" Dreadnoughts will be laid down this year, in addition to the four provided for in the estimate. This is all that the adherents of big navy want, and they have started cam pign, the length and breadth of the country in support of it.
 The Navy league, which represents no particular party, Is in the fore front of this movement. At an "emer- gency" meeting today, at which Lord Elcho presided, the league decided to enter immediately upon great cam paign to arouse the people to the urg- ency and the seriousness of the prob lem confronting the nation"
 There Is no necessity for any agf- tation in this direction in the big cen ters, but the league Is arranging meetings at every market place in thu more remote country towns and vil- lages. This movement has the sup port of the most influential people of the country and plenty of funds are promised. The league insists that the minimum of the programme for tn @ construction of Dreadnoughts in 1909- 10 must be eight, claiming that noth- ing less will suffice to maintain Great Britains naval supremacy
 The newspapers ever since Tuesdays debate have been filled with 1urid pie lures of "the German peril" Every retired admiral in the kingdom has been utilizing the almost forgotten breezy language of the quarterback in condemning "the blundering lords of the admiralty"
 A gathering of the business men of London is being arranged by the lord mayor to be held in the mansion house and the chamber of commercei in the provinces are not a whit behind in their vigorous demands that the little navy policy shall be buried beyond the hope of resurrection, and that immediate steps shall be taken to deal with the national crisis"