The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-01-11

BY that time, probably, we will have
large excess of manufactured pro-
| ducts which must compete for sale
! with Japan and other nations in China
| and elsewhere. Then, and not till
| then does there seem a chance of COL
! lision with Japan. 1t seems even
then remote, for Chinas future needs
will readily absorb the products OF
many countries. When war does come
! It will be because the life of a ma
| tn is at stake, which means that
| it's surplus products are being shut
| out of a market.
Germany finds in England and the
| United States her greatest rivals in
| the field of trade. She has made
| great inroads in England's commerce
kept out of the United States mar
| ket by our tariff, and she finds US
| an increasing rival in foreign trade.
| AS our surplus products increase and
| the price of our labor goes down, as
| it inevitably will, our competition for
| foreign markets will become more
| keen, our chance of friction more
/ acute. Just now. and for many years
/ to come. Germany is logically the ri
| val of England first of all. She is
| gradually winning England's trade
| from her. and England's fear is solely
! of her and Of her ultimate commercial
and political SUPREMACY.
A conflict between Germany and
| the United States would throw Ger
many's trade back into English hands
| and would be fatal to Germany's
plans for advancement whatever the
| outcome.
Great Britain, to increase her naval
| supremacy has gone to the largest
] size battleships, and Germany has fol-
| lowed her lead with an apparent de-
sire to equal Great Britain in naval
| power The feeling between the two
1 1t1-in0 ORG tn he inf
1 it has been most apparent and anxious
| in England, and has resulted there in
continued naval activity and de-
termination to maintain that two-na-
| ton standard which BrftOns feel is
necessary for national supremacy. AS
| long as this feeling exists, and it
| seems likely to exist as long as Eng
| land and her colonies have money to
! build battleships. Germany cannot
/ catch up. Germany's harbors and her
Kiel Canal were not built for heavy
| draft ships and England's leap to
| at once to enormous financial burdens.
In necessarily increasing the size of
her battleships in an attempt to equal
| England, Germany has spent vast
sums IN building new naval dockyards
and in increasing the depth and ex-
| tent of her principal harbors and cam
ais. This is in addition to the in
creased expenditures due to the larg-
er sized battleships and cruisers, for
Germany's navy began with small siz-
ed ships. In striving to catch up
| with Great Britain, Germany has ac-
tolerated her building Of large ships
i and will soon pass the United States
in naval strength. Her programme
completed, she will still be unable to
meet England successfully, but will
| have surpassed us. But again our
typographical advantage appears. The
| t,otrr, r11o Nd nv
many would almost certainly prevent
Germany sending her fleet away and
| leaving her coast unguarded by naval
/ force.
| Germany's interest is in finding mar
kets for her surplus product and for
her surplus population, increasing at
| nearly million year. Her Scien-
tific production and its more scientific
marketing make her formidable RI
val in trade. Her surplus population
must find good places to live anu
grow raw, products. which either the
of which the supply is decreasing
South America and the West Indies
are profitable and nearby colonizing
fields. Germany does not wish her
sons to cease to be Germans. She
wishes colonies with their peoples un-
The Monroe Doctrine ceases to be
effective unless it is backed by suf-
ficient naval strength.
It has been estimated that in 1912
the battleship strength of the princf-
pal nations will be approximately as
81; United States 80; Japan 16; France
"a. This includes a great number of
battleships not of the first class and
not of high efficiency.
While in 1912 the number Of ships
possessed by Germany will be greater
u = n
yet our fleet will contain a greater
number of larger ships with larger
guns, and it may be assumed that at
this date our fleet will still be super
| ior to that of Germany. But her rate
of building Dreadnought battleships is
greater than ours, and but a few
| years longer will definitely make her
fleet superior to ours. 1t may also be
recalled that Austria has laid down
four Dreadnought battleships and con-
templates more. It is assumed that
these ships will act in conjunction
| with Germany's navy.
| Invasion of the United States by a
European Or Pacific power is prac-
| tically impossible, nor would any pow
/ err care to attempt 1t. The fleet of the
aggressor would seek our batt1eship
fleet and would attempt to defeat it.
If successful, command of the sea
| would be assured, our trade would
W SSOPPOo dIlo pCdCC 1OlCCQ
possibly shot fired against our
coast itself. No advantage by invasion
seems possible which could not better
be gained by beating us on the sea
and forcing terms by suspending the
nations power to sell it's products.
| 1t would appear then from this sur
| vey, and with no distinct menace in
| any direction. that our battle fleet be-
longs in the Atlantic Ocean. 1t is for
| tunate that the probable completion
of the Panama Canal in 1915 will
make it easy to move our fleet quick
ly into the Pacific should any unto
ward development require it's presence
| there. But at least for some years
to come the naval weakness of the
Pacific powers makes it reasonably
certain that our fleet need not be
| there, aside from political considera-
| tons in the Atlantic. Further, it may
4 be said that the commercial struggle
1 in the Pacific has not yet become
| acute, or even very aggressive
1t must not be forgotten, in any
/ event, that nations do not fight inter-
| ests, but fleets. And it cannot be
emphasized too strongly that our bat
tleships strength must not be divided
in response to local demands A juno
ton of divided forces is difficult of
accomplishment once war begins
The situation then is this. While the
| Pacific Ocean is growing slowly in
| Importance and will undoubtedly de-
| mand later the presence of a strong
United States battle fleet, at pres
emit We do not need a strong fleet