Evening star., 1921-01-15
Editorial Digest
The Pen vs.. the Sword.

Has it como about. as the Ohio State
Journal Columbus. republican, sug-
gests. that in the movement toward
disarmament the newspapers of the
| world have "outdistanced statesmen
and governmental experts in showing
the way to increase the chances for
world peace? The New York Worlds
aggressive campaign for disarmamen mt
seems to furnish the inspiration for
similar activity on the part of influ
entlal papers in England. and is
echoed to some extent in Japan.
american journals which support the
World are making effective use of
TINS expression of opinion in the coun-
translate popular sentiment into gov
ernmental action.
Publlc sentiment against building
additional warships" the Buffalo Com
mercial independently finds reflected
al over the world" and British news
cessation of naval construction :"
rms ne wspaper outcry in England
against competition with the United
states In battleship building" demon
strates to the Baltimore American
ofepuol1eano pup that at least section
OF the British people is opposed to
any policy that may tend to put that
country into any sort of technical
hostility to the United States" When
the London Post. "the most reaction
ary organ in Great Britain" accord
ing to the Flint (Mich.) Journal (in-
dependenD, makes the statement that
america can afford to build the
sreatest navy, while Great Britain
cannot. 1T gives those skeptics who
pI3oon-pooh the talk of reduction or
thing to think about"
The proposal of the London Post for
curtalllng armament ''by agreement be-
tween England, Japan and the United
states is "a surprising but sensible
proposal. in the opinion of the New
ders If Lloyd George will agree Ac-
cording to the Chicago Post Gndepend-
emu, Lloyd George has already .:taken
the lead" and his order of "a so per
cent cut in the army and navy esti-
mates for Great Britain" is an s.im-
pressive answer to the challenging reso-
luton OF Senator Borah.''
Ihe Endorsement Of the Worlds cam
palgn for naval holiday by Lord North
cliffe. and his plea for a discussion of
the subject with friendly frankness. in
an atmosphere Of complete good faith,
with all the cards on the table" are
encouraging" says the BIRMINGHAM
Age Herald (democratic). for "if the
world Is ever to disarm the example
must mus: De & set by Great Britain and the
A''fAtCs. i[huo WneO NOrtnCllffe
says further that the agitation through
the press is invaluable because govern
ments need the support of public opinion
When they do anything that may seem
to AFFECT national security" the Kansas
City Times independently suggests that
everybody recognizes that when Lord
Northcliffe speaks his words are Just as
Weighty as though they came from
Downing street."
The declaration Of the 'eBritish Nayy
League in favor of joint action by the
two great Anglo-Saxon nations" iowa rd
reducing ornaments encourages the
Canadian Toronto Star Ito hope that
the tremendous amount Of money in
volved in national naval programs will
be considerably curtailed"
The Rochester Democrat and Chron-
icie (republican) sees no reason "for as
suming that Japan would not welcome
an opportunity to cut down naval ex-
penditures as eagerly as any other ma
tion," and the ''more the subject is aei-
tated the palmer it appears" that the
project is now taking on an air of
reality"
Such being the disposition of the three
nations concerned in the movement,
whether officially or unof1icially ex-
pressed" the Springfield Union (repub-
lican) feels that disarmament should
encounter no difficulties apparently in
an effort Of these countries through their
governments to agree upon such a pol
icy" 1t remains only for the United
States to take the initial step, since, ac-
cording to the Norfolk (Neb.) News (in-
dependent). "our government can deter
mine the armament policy Of all three