The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1919-01-09
The Navy We Need.

The Navy We Need. u,
If we are going in for big navy it
will not necessarily be to have navy
as big or bigger than anybody else's.
It will be because we want big navy
and the reason we want it will be be-
cause we ned it in our business. Our
commerce, carried in our own ships,
is going to spread all over the seven
seas, unless we elect to continue the
same fatuous inertia in that respect
which has characterized US for the
past fifty years. And that, let us
hope, is not what we are going to do.
We are going to have mercantile ma
rine worthy of the country. That
seems to be settled and that alone
demands correspondingly strong
navy. We have thousands of miles of
coastline to guard. We have our
island possessions and the Panama
canal to look after. We are not going
to expect war and by the same token
we are not going to expect the millen-
mum. The world counted on the mil
lenium for fifty years, and the world
is just emerging from the weller of
wreckage and slaughter incident to
that abiding faith.
1t is not to get into war that we
| want big navy. It is to keep us out
of it. Had we been equipped with a
navy commensurately as powerful as
that of England, it is doubtful if the
Hun piracy issue would have been
! pushed to the extreme which made our
entrance into the conflict inevitable.
Possibly in our excessive pride over
not fighting in those days it would
have kept US out of war. It would
have been a sad thing if it had kept
us out of such a war as one which
summoned every decent nation of the
world, but just as likely as not it
would have done so. We do not ex-
pect war and of surety we do not
! want war. And that is precisely the
reason why we want navy-our first
line of defense-so powerful that no
body will want war with us. It is not
question of how large England's
navy is or may be. That is her bust
ness. A navy big enough and strong
enough to protect oar righful inter-
ests the world over, without calling
upon any of our neighbors for help;
a navy strong enough to make a hos
tile demonstration against us by no
matter how powerful an aggressor, a
matter to give that aggressor serious
matter for consideration-that is the
kind of navy we want, the kind that
the dignity, the wealth, and the wide
ly expanding world responsibilities Of
the country demand. The building and
the maintenance of such a navy as
that is our business, just as the build
| ing and maintenance of England's
navy is England's business. It is not
at all a question of competition in
! navy building between us and Eng
land, or between us and anybody else.
1t is purely question of going ahead
with our navy until it is big enough
and strong enough to protect our
shores, our canal, our islands and our
commerce. If we come out of what
we have just gone through without
amassing enough plain horse sense to
do that and to lay the foundations, by
enforcing military training, and of an
army commensurate with our navy,
then we are the same stupid dreamers
we have been for the last half century,
and deserve anything that may be
coming to us unless it be good luck.
With one eye on the Versailles
peace conference, the republicans in
congress are reported to be hanging in
the wind about endorsing strong
navy program. What the Versailles
peace conference may bring forth is
on the knees of the gods. If it brings
forth nothing in particular bearing on
the league of nations dream, we may
go on and build just an ordinary big
! enough navy to take care of our in
terests without calling on any Of our
neighbors for help. If it brings out
anything in the international millen-
mum line, then we had better double
the battleship, dreadnought and ar
mored cruiser program, and look out
for breakers. Colonel Harvey.
Trapped Dog Fed by Mate.
In the Telegram, Worcester, Mass,
John E. Dearth, field agent Of Worces-
ter farm bureau, tells this story of the
intelligence, sympathy, affection and
clever understanding on the part of a
dog, which came under his observa-
ton in recent visit to Princeton:
"A Princeton man who is fond of