Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-05-16
TO CONCENTRATE
FLEET IN PACIFIC.
Navy Department Disturbed at
Fight Against Funds for
Western Bases
NO THREAT TO JAPANESE
BY CLINTON W. GILBERT
pAnfr Correspondent. Evening Public Ledger

oeaE Correspondent. Evening Public Ledger
Copyright. 1871, bv Public Ledger co.
washington, May 16. - The Navy
Department is much disturbed over the
fight In Congress conducted under the
color of disarmament against appr0-
priations asked by the navy, especially
those for improvement of shore sta
tions md bases on the west coast OF
this country. A particular hght Is
being made upon the development oil
supply base at Alameda. Calf.
In general, the Senate bill increases
appropriations for virtually all the
Pacific stations. The object Of the Navy
Department in urging these increases IL
to equip the Pacific Coast so that tnS
entire American feet can be ma'n'a'neu
in the Pacific. -. ,.,s,
The feet now present in the facihc
Il two and one-half times as larsc az
that which President Roosevelt srnt
there on the trop around the worh.
and facilities on the west 'oasV "rc
barely adequate for II.
To Concentrate in Pacific
In all the plans that are being made
, and in nil tho discussions of navy qucs
tions here, il is taken for granted that
the whole American Navy VII be con
centrated in the Pacific within ninety
days. A confercne of the admira's OF
the Pacific Fleet. the Atlantic Fleet; thr
Asiatic Squadron and the Adrlat''
Squadron will be held here in WASH
ipgton in a few days, and It is under
stood that this conference hns 10 40
with naval concentration.
When the fleet now in the Atlantic Is
seut TO the Pacific it will probably bc
announced that il goes for purposes ot
maneuvers. the efficiency of the force
recurring joint maneuvcrs. The Admin
istration wishes to avoid all appear
ance Of doing anything sensat .onal, ana
especially to clear its action OF any in
ternational significance.
But once the Atlantic ships pass
through Panama Canal they will hardly
return eastward unless some emergency
calls them back. The policy will TO
make the Pacific the sphere Of their
operat 'ons in the future just as the At
lsntic has been in the past.
Plkns have been worked out TOR
bringing vessels in need of repairs back
from the West coast to the East coast
for repairs Existing western stations
are not equal TO the demands that will
be made upon them and will not be for
several years after the appropriations
now being asked and granted in the SEN
ate are authorized. 1t is believed that
a united feet can be based in the West
during times of peace under plans for
eastern repairs.
To Make Repairs In East
For political reasons it will probably
be necessary for long time to use east
ern stations for repairs and building,
since much politics revolvcs around
keeping eastern yards busy. Indeed
some of the danger to the western pro-
gram of the navy springs from the
friends in Congress of the eastern build =
ers.
The need of obtaining appropria :
tions for Pacific naval stations develop
ment may hurry the transfer of the
ships in the Atlantic to the Pacific. on
the ground that an object lesson as tc
their necessity will be necessary to gel
the Senate bill accepted BY Congress.
In official circles. while it is general
IL admitted that the concentration o'
the navy in the western ocean Will bt
the policy of the future, II ia emphatic
ally said that this policy is not directed
at Japan. The fleet would go into the
western ocenn even il Japan did not
exist and even If there was no strong
naval power in the Orient.
The future of trade and world de-
velopment lies rather in the Pacific than
in the East. The threat which Ger
man naval ambitions held to the pence
of the world Ia past. No occasion exists
now for maintaining navy in the At
lantic.
Moreover. one remote possession
which is threatened in time of diff e
culties, the Philippines, lies in the Pa :
cific. The same considerations which
have led England to guard with her
fleets the routes which connected the
British Isles with her outlying colonies
and possessions leads us TO seek the
same control of the waters lying be-
tween the United States and the Philip
pines.