Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1920-05-02
BRITISH EMPIRE FAST
LOSING ITS STRENGTH
"ch.Nho"h Military Officer Rnps
Present Policy Of Colonial
Expansion.
~ LIEUT.. GEN. SIR urpuur,
'oIIii, q. &. VI. g., Il, &. "a

n
w Is. &. y. q.
Nv no commanded the Hri,ivb L,i..,
arny IN the Picardy battle in mo
spring Of 1879 inc
iDNDoN, May 1.-The very serio,.
military and financial DAM. ~,
vowed in the govcrnmcnt's nnii,,. H.,
! Icsa''i to Mcsopotamia and I.,ins,inn
no NOT seem TO have been rcai;z.d n,
any OF the speakers who TOOK MAJ, -,
anc reDates on the army estimate.
Co., ~ ign poiicy in the House OF
Asuu!th " Mr..
various soldiers. speaking an ~
arm! estimates. laid stress on TIC
VIC" mat our military forccy mus,
nehr Just proportion to our resnnn
s!bi!itiea and argued. in cons.nnnnno
, against any reduction.
Imperial I:Npan.Ion Costly.
.'s matter OF fact, the reaI jssu.
- one OF foreign policy, Of which mill
inn e"pchuiture Is the result. So
.onS as we pursue "a policy OF itnnnri,i
| EXPANSION. so long must we iNavc ey
Pah"ins army estimates, or else We
must cut down the supply OF ,nonnv
ana !eaEc the government 10 Gu, Gown
its policy. w"
our foreign policy in Meso,o,,,,,.,
mas involved us in direct rcsponsibiI-
tF Tor holding new front Of go
in'!es. with line .: communicable
OF ;'houi the same length. which has
cost. '''''''chSc
IN addition. we have 10 hold down
ia rms area :, people vho. though they
ma! NOT be orderly in our scnsn loyn
freedom and demand independence.
are also relying upon the
'.aps OF inc new empire which we
nave created. who Will naturally ;oin
hands with them in any future trou-
Die. MY figures. in reality. underes,i-
r ,,nt me burden we shall have 10
;no- axe. Dir John Davidson. spca k :
ihs on the army estimates. said:
To-day we have "a land frontier =,
me East. the Middle East. the Near
last and Asiatic of over $500 miles
, tnat is not n responsibility to he
naoiaii,,, 'akeh by ans country. and es-
peeiaiiy over countries thickly popu-
latcd, where the inhabitants are mora
or less restless. demanding emanr;na-
non, turbulent or. il may be. openly
/ nos,!lc. and where race, religion and
dangers" anu
entirely agree with Sir John Dav-
Jason in holding that If we must
na:ntain these responsibilities, we
, nrus' nave an army commensurate
we with any regard To the future
SaictE az the empire, maintain thesc
rssponsibili;ies? l ain emphaticallv of
me opinion that we neither can nor
ought TO do So.
although on paper we may be paint-
ing the map more and more red. that
does not mean tina. we are makinr
,he empire really stronger We arc.
IN truth. overextending our powers
instead OF consolidating them, and
when the day OF stress comes, moth
ing OUT disaster can be looked for.
our troops are becoming more and
more scattered. and our alreadv huge
financial liabilities are increasing. In
laci, we are not Strengthening our
empire, but weakening it.
nave here discussed only our
slIa.csic commitments and their
emphasize the wickedncss of the prc-
natory policy revealed by MIR. Lioyd
feorEe when he said that we ought
10 hold Mesopotamia in order to pro;i;
nE the oil AT Mosul-which is, think.
about $50 miles inland from Rasrn