New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-05-18
SEA NO DEFENCE,
KNIGHT WARNS
Only Fleet That Can Com
mand Ocean Will Pre-
vent Invasion.

Mohonk Lake, n. Y, May 17.-Rear
Admiral Austin NJ. Knight, president
Of the Naval War College at Newport,
r T., told the members of the Lake Mo
honk Conference on international Arbi-
tration here to-day that the Atlantic
Ocean could no longer be considered
serious obstacle 10 the invasion of the
United States. UNLESS those waters
are blocked by feet strong enough to
command them absolutely" he said,
the ocean is a highway, broad, spa
cious and convenient beyond any mill
tary road the Romans ever built.
What will the pacifsts think Of
themselves" he asked, IF, as a direct
result Of their efforts, our feet is
destroyed by an enemy feet twice its
size ?-and ! tell you now that if the
feet is defeated il will be destroyed.
And what will they say if after our
little army has been offered up as
further sacrifice upon the altar Of I'M
preparedness some hundreds of thou
sands of our so-called citizen-soldiers
are in their turn offered up on the
same altar-and all 20 no effect?
I've urge that the United States be
made great in physical power in order
, that its moral power may be made ef-
fective beyond its borders. Without
power. IL is assuredly not possible to
be helpful
Great eace Conference 10 Come.
a great peace conference lies ahead
Of the world in which the United
States will desire to have part. Still
other conferences. and more significant
ones, will deal with multitude Of
plans for securing permsnent peace be
tween nations.
Where arc the delegates from the
United States to stand in all these
gatherings? II they 20 rs the repre-
sentatives OF great power. rs the
world counts great powers, they may
have almost controlling voice. n. on
the question of disarmament. they
speak as the representatives Of 4 ma
tion armed and ready 10 disarm II
others will do the same. they will be
heard. II they speak as the represen-
tatives OF a nation already disarmed
and therefore helpless, their motives
will be questioned and their arguments
discounted. Little Importance will he
attached to the fact that nation, it,
self unarmed. urges its possible enc
mics 10 disarm.
"Some one has said that the advo-
Gates of preparedness lack the larger
vision Of the pacifsts. deny tnat
this is so. | claim that ours is the
larger vision because II takes in not
alone a land at peace, but land at
peace. with all its ideals preserved, its
people protected. its possibilities of
hopefulness expanded and expanding
a land not stripped Of power through
fear Of using power unJustly, but rich
in power and richer still in the de-
termination that this power shall be
used alone as a means to the attain
ment of great and noble ends
Central Power Needed.
George Haven Putnam, the publisher,
told the conference that the world
NAV, with assurance, look forward TO
the time when peace enforced by a
central authority will be as much o.
an ordinary condition of life as peace
is to-day an accepted condition in the
life Of city, state or nation. lie
said:
at is nv own belief that interna-
tional arbitration can be made ehec-
tive only when the states OF the world
have been brought together into some
thing in the form Of a federation.
The international Tribunal az The
Hague had the weakness of presenting
no provision for the enforcement OF
the decisions of the tribunal. The
plans outlined by the league TO enforce
peace make provisions for carrying
into effect the decisions OF an inter
national court and. so TO speak, Tor
enforcing Cancellation by means OF
pressure, first economic, and then, II
necessary, military