Bisbee daily review., 1915-04-28
Wednesday Morning, April 2s, 1915
REQUESTING "NAvALlsM"
By w. H. Album

By w. N. Album
 A recent letter of Dr. Bernhard Dernburg an unof hca representative of Germany in the United States, contained a statement of the terms which Germany might be willing accept peace. The letter was widely published and commented but the most striking pro, posal put forward by Dr. Denburg seems to have a.. trsced surprisingly little attention This his sug eeston for the Decentralization of the seas" which Dr. Dom0urg explained later as meaning disarmament of the seas including the naturalization of the sea gateways tine suez and Panama canals If the thus made free and safe to an nations all times he explained with guarantee that nation should be allowed to control the seas or to maintain fleet of war ships for such a purpose and if Germany were given back her colonies then she might stop fighting and tire from Belgium.
 Perhaps the reason the proposal received SO little consideration was because it obviously that the Allies would not consent to- and that at first thought appears absurdly impractical And yet, why should the disarmament of the seas be looked up on as more visionary than disamament by land? If We are abolish great standing armies in the world that mankind hopes will emerge from the why not abolish dreadnoughts?
 Our thinking is couded always by custom and pre-. judcc We have no sympathy with standing armies be- cause we have never had them; Germany, accustoloc to great standing army and compulsory military service regards it as natural all the world nearly finds it d fcult to think free because for four centuries Great Britain has kept control of it. British supremacy salt water has become tradition immemoral GUS om fact which most nations have come to regard as inevitable like the winds and tides. In the United States especially the idea of an ocean not dominated by British warships seldom occurs to us
 But when you aside tradition and prejudice what a strange and intolerable thing it is that one nation should hold absolute power the great wa ers that constitute hreequarers of the surface the globe and the highways for international trade and travel
 Great Brtains defense is of course that in general she has used this power magnanimousy; that it is es sental to the preservation of her empire and the de fense of her shores First there were the "wooder walls" that guarded England and beat off the Spanish Armada then her fleets became bridges of empire joining the moherand with all her far-aung colonies More than any other word-pover she needed warshlps and safety demanded the policy that finally became Axe, -the policy of maintaining a sea fighting power a, great as the combined nayes of the two strongest powers. Under the wings Of the vast fighting fore, thus built up and used a sort of sea police man, smaller nations have doubtless beneatted and order ha been preserved in times of stress
 But an this does not make it natural and iueya be that Great Britain should be mistress of the seas mol does i soothe the pride her restye neighbors He superiority has not discouraged nayalIsm elsewhere h has fostered it. Gemanys navy was built to cope wi Brains. and in was ours and that of France Russia and Italy.
 We might we'll admit the force Of Germany's con tentioa that Great Britain stands for navasm as def nitely or definitely than Germany stands for mill tarsm. In potentality navallsm is the worse evil O Che two, for while BHtains navy dominate an tu seas and Britan's will for good or evil whereve salt water ebbs and flows, neither Germany an other nation with its army dominate the land B, en China mlitarized and completely armed could no nue the earth. without navy, completely Britoi can with her navy if she chooses, and no combiuato Of powers interfercs
 or course, Germauys proposal is not philanthropi' It is selfish Germany wants rid the of the fore that is choking the commercial and colonial life out her. while she keeps her army But that need nc blind us to the extreme desirablity of doing away wit rayausm along with mntarsm from Che standpoint