The Washington times., 1920-12-27
Today
Read Advertisements.
That Disarmament Scheme.
Let the Fighters Begin.
We Want Ships.
By ARTHUR BRISBANE
Copyright. ls2O.

you will find real news in them
and proft II there is anything you
need to buy. The holiday cream
Is OF the merchandising milk pan,
and merchants, in every line, are
Offering goods at REAL bottom
prices. A real race TO sell has
begun. Profit by IL.
Read advertisements carefully;
yoS utu find fohot you Want, at
the price that yon Want.
Without much success the New
York World tried to interest this
nation in the League of Nations.
The election was not exactly u
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES vic
tory. Now the World offers a dis
armament scheme. All nations
viii stop all programs Of self
defense, please, and save money.
1t is. AS regards America, q pro-
gram for the idiot asylum. Japan's
naval budget for the coming year
amounts to $24s ,000, 900. Japanese
wages are low. The Japanese gov
ernment Is efficient. Such q sum
spent in Japan-NOT at Hog Is
lsnd--means q good deal of war
ship building.
tits to be remembered by Amer
leans, not of the sloppy kind, that
the navy of Japan consists now OF
the Japanese fleet PLUS the Eng
lish fleet. England's navy is Brit
aims and Japan's. That is the ef-
feet Of their treaty.
1t would please burglars in the
present crime wave to have all
honest citizens sell their revolvers,
and it would please some nations
to have this country and its wealth
left at the mercy Of European
benevolence and love of peace.
Fortunately, Mr.. Harding, who
win have a good deal to say, sends
this message to the worlds dis
armament program:
Il want . navy ample to protect
our growing merchant marine and
able to assure dependable defense
. of our shores"
If that is disarmament indorse-
ment, make the most of it.
Mr.. Harding's idea of our COM
mercial navy includes ships going
to every port on earth. A very re-
spectacle navy will be necessary
to protect such a fleet. Some men
subject to income tax do not want
a big navy because they would
have to help pay for it. They will
have to reconcile themselves.
A big navy is expensive, but less
expensive than q big or even
small war. Last time Europe
came over and BORROWED.
They owe us now fourteen bill
lions and will continue to owe.
Next time, il we have no navy,
they might not BORROW.
England is earnest in advocat-
ing small navies now, especially
for the United States. This coun-
try remembers, if England does
not, that but for her dominating
navy the kaiser would now be in
London instead of Holland, telling
his little Cousin George what to do
and how to do it. Germany, only
enemy that England feared, is. out
of the way for many year.
But this country has Asia in
mind, and the desire of our Japa-
nese friends to decide the DISPOSE
ton of United States territory.
An American navy big enough to
make Europe and Asia think hard
is the best guarantee of peace.
England for generation has pro-
claimed her intention and right to
have a navy equal to the combined
navies Of any two other powers.
The dynamite-dropping flying
machine has made England-so
close to the continent-thinkm more
of aircraft and less Of big surface
ships. Any future invasion Of Eng
land would be by dirigibles, not by
transports in the old way. But
this country, with two oceans and
two continents to look after, and
planning to send its merchant
ships to every port, needs fighting
surface vessels as we'll as air
ships.
A fighting feet equal to the COM
bined fleets OF Japan and England
would be about right. The desired
supremacy would then be furnished
by American gunners.
This country has no desire to
force weakened nations to extra
spending, no desire to spend it's
own money unnecessarily, in non
productive ways. Let England per-
suade her ally, Japan, to stop war
ship building entirely; let both
combined sell us enough first-class
fighting ships to give us what we
want-a navy equal to the COM
bined fleets of the Asiatic and
British allies-and we should prob
ably be content to stop building.
The world knows well that we
do not intend to attack any nation.
We never have attacked any ma
ton.
If we had acted in the old-fash-
ioned European way--as England,
for instance, has acted many times
what should we have done when
the great war started?
We should, Of course, have in