Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-11-25
NEW WAY TO PUT UP OR SHUT UP

IN naval armament II Jul De lOOlloH VI hC ChVOu S"
10 scrap any of her big battleships that have just been
launched or are now building. The other great Powers must
not get it into their heads that public sentiment in the United
States will force this government to disarm whether the
other nations do or not.
There is no doubt about the great majority of the
American people desiring peace and they are willing to sac
rifce a great deal to attain that end. They are even willing
to see millions of dollars worth of modern vessels sent to
the bottom of the sea if by SO doing they can advance the
cause of peace throughout the world and, Incidentally, save
untold millions of dollars.
The American people believe that the welfare OF man
kind and the advancement of civilization demand a general
disarmament of all nations and the adoption of peaceful
means for settling disputes that are bound to arise between
nations. The American people are behind Secretary Hughes
in his program for disarmament. He has been most specific
in announcing his plan. 1t is put forth in good faith. 1t is
being urged upon the nations in all sincerity. 1t is the most
advanced stand that has yet been taken for world progress.
There has been a great deal said about this world dis
armament business. The nations are nearly bankrupt with
their awful war debt and the present race in arming them
selves for the next war will about complete their ruin. They
all know it and for that reason they, apparently, welcomed
the invitation of the United States TO get together for the
purpose of curtailing expenditures along this line.
Just to show that the United States was in earnest, Sec
rotary Hughes at the outset of the conference announced a
definite program for accomplishing the very thing for
which the nations had been called together. He left no
ground for bluaing. The old European idea of holding num-
erous session for several months, each one shrouded in mys-
terry, was tabooed from the start. The other Powers were
knocked almost off their feet by this direct method, but after
tIeN d cCONCIC IOh bC DhONh my "SO'"NJ
the Hughes program Sin principle"
Nowfhe hedging has begun and, strange to say, france
seems to be the most obstreperous of them all. France whose
debt is already over sixty per cent. of her national wealth
France who owes billions of dollars to the United States;
France who, even with the biggest navy and the biggest
standing army that she could raise would still be at the
mercy of almost any great power that might attack her;
France. today, is posing as the cock of the walk, so to speak,
and seems to aspire to take the place of Prussia as the great
military Power of the world. No matter what Frances arm
ament might be she would still have to depend on the help OF
--4 D.;l,S, an fho TTpifa1 Stntnci IL h event a If n val WITH
4 really great Power. 1t is rather p~resumptlous, therefore,
for her to take the attitude that she seems to be assuming in
connection with a limitation of armament.
If France Joins willingly with the other nations In a
disarmament program she will have a just claim on those
nations for help in the event of trouble. Should France be-
come defiant and insist on maintaining a great military or
ganization thereby preventing united action on the part oil
the Powers to curtail as they desire, she would have only
herself to blame if she got into trouble later on and the other
nations with whom she refused to cooperate, let her alone
to take her medicine as she had will it. Also, the United
States would be justified in assuming that if France has so
much money for armament she can well afford to pay the
United States the debt she owes her. And the United States
would be justified in insisting on immediate payment.
When il comes to building up armament the United
States can lead them all and, should the present conference
fail, she can be depended upon to do it. The United States
has the money and she has the resources. Secretary Hughes
has called any bluff that the Powers may have been putting
up. The time for a real showdown has come.
There is reason to believe that the nations represented
at Washington will come to their senses before adjournment
is taken and some definite program along the line proposed
nv the United States will be adopted.
The cost of a single battle ship IS about S42,ooo,ooo.
The cost of maintaining a single battleshp when In COM
mission Rms into hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
Yet. within fifteen years, or twenty at the most, the vessel
isready for the junk pile. When it is realized that this S42,-
600, 600, merely the first cost of a battleship, VIII endow
for all time two or three universities like Princeton that will
continue to spread culture and enlightenment throughout
the world: when we realize the thousands of acres OF waste
land that the original cost of a battleship will reclaim there
bv Increasing the nations wealth, adding to production and
permanently benefting mankind; when it is realized that
The single cost of a battleship would build the ship canal
across New Jersey; would dredge out a dozen harbors max
o them suitable for all kinds of shipping; would build
thousands Of miles of concrete highways-when we realize
these things we can see the folly Of squandering such sums
on eneines of destruction that can no one any good and that,
within a comparatively few years, will become obsolete
anyway.
Secretary Hughes still has a firm hold on the confer
rrhere must he a certain amount of talk and hluhing