Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1921-11-24
VIVID EXAMPLE
OF NAVAL GROWTH.
LOCKE OF THE PANAMA CANAL
ALREADY ALMOST TOO SMALL
FOR BtGaEsT wARsHIps.
ADVANCES .oF EIGHT YEARS
Continuous and Rapid Development In
Size and Efficiency Of War Materiel
Has Bearing on the Conference on
Armaments.
BY EDWARD B. CLARK.

BY EDWARD B. CLARK.
. .WashingtOn.--It was only eight
years ago that the water from Gatun
lake. was turned into the Culebra cut,
now known as the Gaillard cut. The
canal then was opened for commerce
and for the passage of battleships.
Z VAS thought at that time, October,
1913. that the locks had been made
iria. enough to accommodate any war
'essel which was likely to be built
or a century to come. Yet today,
l,ly eight years from the time Of the
,pehiA3 If the waterway. there are
zhips Of the American navy which have
10 "scruncll'' In order to get through
he Gatun, the Pedro Miguel and the
MiratlOres locks. ,.
This fact has. some bearing on the
conference for the limitation Of arma-
iupAts and Far East problems, al
Sh un tie surface 1t may not seem
in any way to be related TO the prob
lens to be solved. There may be a
limitation set on the number of ships
which any nation may keep In COM
mission. and there may be ordered
O reduction In the number Of vessels
at present commissioned in the various
navies, but It is known, Of course,
that every country will be allowed
81 Keep navy of sufficient size to
protect Its various interests.
OF course there will be navics In the
future just as there are navies today,
and It Is not believed that anything
will be done at the conference to pre-
ent Improvements and enlargements
of the ships of the present time when
vessel -replacements are necessary and
are authorized under the rules govern
ing limitation agreements.
T. It has been suggested from time to
time, more because Of the humOr of
fancy than for any other reason, that
the nations of the world 60 back to the
days Of old wooden ships and smooth
bore guns in order to save money for
the taxpayers. The argument was that
If no nations had anything but wood
en- ships and smooth bores they would
be on the same war level as they are
when each possesses It's steel-clads and
Its 18-inch rifles.
What Future Battles May Be.
OF course any such suggestion as
this instantly was repudiated, but 1t
Is within the range. Of remote posi-.
bilities that something may be sug.
gested at the coming conference to
bring a pause to the. further develop
ment Of destructive engines of war
fare. Probably, Of course, this will
/ not be done, and If science and inven-
tion 60 forward as they have gone for
ward in the last 80 years, the day will
come when man cannot 60 to war OIL
sea or. land without knowing that
either his army or his fleet, or the
army. the fleet Of the enemy is to
be ahnihilated. No one left to tell
the tale, may be the history Of some
great battle of the future.
A few weeks ago 4,OO0, marines. Of
the United States navy engaged in
battle maneuvers at the Wilderness
where the Grant and Lee forces met
!fifty-odd years ago. Such has been
the improvement, IT. you want to call
1t Improvement, In the. machinery Of
war that II those 1900 marines. armed
assthty Eyfs the other day and with
all the modern machinery Of warfare
at theic command. had met In actual
battle on the: field a force numerically
Iequal to the combined armies Of Grant
and Lee, armed as those armies were
In 1854, the marines could have swept
the combined forces opposed to them
of the face Of the earth and never
have lost a man,.
In the Spanish war there was an
American merchant vessel which had
been converted into cruiser. - II
mounted four 5-inch guns. 1t was just
4 merchant vessel, and vet alone II
could have destroyed in battle every
j mSn-of-war which the North and the
South together put on the seas In the
days Of the Ciyil war, and could have
done 1t in single fight.
One Of our newest and greatest bat.
ltleships today could destroy without
much Of an effort the combined Ameri.
can and Spanish fleets as they existed
In the days Of the Spanish war. The
Brooklyn, the New York, the Oregon
the Indiana, the Iowa, aud all the
rest plus the steel clads OF Cefvers
would have beea sent to the bottom
after short engagement with one cap
|ital ship Of our present. DAY navy. I.
ignorance In Rsd's Attack,
In the attempt Of the Red element
of human society to assassinate the
American ambassador to France