Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-12-12
LIMITING SEA POWER

The Emitted States would be unreasonable to ask, ahd
Great Britain would be insane to grant that the SUI
premacy Of Great Britain on the seas be aoated oy 81
much as the value of a fishing smack. "hile no oo'''he
Of the proposal that he will make on this point mas Dec"
given. it may be taken for granted that President Will
,on will not, on behalf Of the United States, present any
request or make any demand involving anything Of the
sort. And If, through any amazing combination OF CIR
substances. the president should be led to advocate socn
IA course. the reply is already made-Britain will do
nothing Of the sort.
Statesmen in Britain and America alike are agreed
that the security OF the British empire depends directly
On the maintenance Of ocean channels Of communication
between its various sections, and between the central
Kingdom and the rest of the world. The only means os
which that constant communication can be assured is the
possession of a navy greater and more powerful than
that Of any other nation. The maintenance Of the most
powerful navy in the world is for Great Britain a mas'er
Of self preservation.
But beyond the special interests Of the British en-
pire we have the vital interests Of civilization. Without
the British navy Germany would today have stood the
blood Quilted master OF the world. The world cannot
AFFORD to lose the protection which that wonderful navy
has given it.
But British supremacy at sea does not require that
the British navy shall continue to grow, or that it shall
remain as large as it is. One of the men who has been
most emphatic in the enunciation Of the policy Of con-
tinued supremacy at sea for his country is Major Win
stou Churchill, British minister Of munitions, and secre-
tary Of the navy at the opening Of the war and for some
years before. Churchill is the man who, on behalf OF
Great Britain, proposed to Germany a naval holiday for
a year, during which neither country should make any
increase in its naval establishment. He was as firm then
MS he is now in the conviction that his country must have
the largest navy afloat. On that point he would admit
of no compromise. But he realized, too, that continued
competition in armament imposed heavy burdens on the
people, and these burdens he wished to tighten as much
as he could safely. Hence he was willing to stop build
ing ships if Germany would also stop. The ration be-
tween the two naviea would then have been maintained
and the people Of the two countries would have been
benefited.
Germany. 1t was offered in good faith, and was in
tended 10 usher in, first, a period in which naval con-
struction would have been at a standstill, and second, a
period Of carefully regulated and proportioned reduction
in ornaments. Z
The needs of the two nations and Of the world at
large require that Britain shall have the largest navy
extant, and that the United States shall stand in the Sec
ond place in maritime power. With this conceded, and
with the desirability of smaller naval establishments also
recognized, it seems that the way will be open for a re-
duction in armament all along the line. But that is some.
get such a policy really under way will require years.