The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-06-12

SMALL declared that he was conscious of feverish war prep arations, In certain quarters"
 Added to all of this is the fact that orders quietly have gone for ward for concentration of the great naval strength of the United States in the Pacific ocean. No longer will the Atlantic be the base of the batt1eship fleets. The new est of the navy's super r-dreadnoughts, magnificent steel fortresses with 16- inch guns brlstling from their pro- tected decks, the greatest guns ever fioated on the sea, have been ordered to the Pacific as rapidly as com pieted and put in commission.
 sIt is the fixed judgment of the ad- minstration that the Pacific and not the Atlantic is to solve the ques ton of war or peace in the next generation
 No Official Announcement
 There has been no official an- nouncement to that effect but the trend toward augmentation of the Pacific fleet and diminution of the Atlantic fleet Is shown by changes in process or directed. The new bat tleship Tennessee already is en route to the Pacific. The California, which will be placed in commission at Mare Island, San Francisco, will be assigned to the Pacific fleet. The Maryland. nearing completion at Newport News, will be hurriad to the Pacific as soon as commissioned. The Maryland will be the first mod ern vessel carrying 16-inch guns to be, commissioned in the American navy. Orders constantly are going forward for the augmentation of the Pacific forces, but there are no or ders for withdrawals from that al- ready preponderant fleet
 When the Atlantic fleet. under Ad- miral Wilson, came to northern waters a short time ago from it's spring maneuvers, it was quickly demonstrated that the personnel was saturated with the idea that eyes must be turned to the Pacific for the next great naval conflict. This idea apparently has taken hold in Wash ington. It has run through the de- partments of the navy and the army. 7 It < has reached out to the Capitol HilI and possessed the military and naval committees of House and Sen- ate
 President Harding has not been unconscious of this rend of thought He felt the significance of 1t Ions before he came to Washington iast March to take the oath of office. When he was in Florida last winter he recognized the delicaoy of the sit nation between the United States and Japan and hoped to be able soon to relieve 1t. He felt that first of all he must find diplomat of long experience, of cool head, and un- questioned good judgment as his ann bassador to the Japanese court. Thus far, he has been unable to fill the position to his satisfaction. The h,a al that In the FAr East might lie some of the most intricate problems he would have to solve and 1t has been his purpose to plce in the embassy at Tokio( in the legation at Picking, and in the s,1bernatorial chair at Manila, three able men who ght easily hold the destinies of the nation in heir hands. Only one of the three has been chosen, Jacob Gould Schurman, one time president of Cornell universlty as minister to China Leonard wood was wanted for executive In the Philippines. but declined.
 Rut despite all this warlike atmos- phere at the national capital, there Is an undercurrent of sane thought which argues that the possibility Of war with Japan is too remote to be seriously considered It Is sanely figured that war could come only through some act of aggression OH the part of Japan.
 Would Seize Philippines
 Even the most apprehensive of the army and navy admit this It is fbeir fayorite theory that Japan would make a dash for the Philip hines. seize the islands, and dare the TTnited States to come and retake them. They figure that the sphere of operations would be in the far Pacific and 1t is only fantastic few who predict that Japan would attempt to land a force on this con- tinent. It would instead pc the oriental idea to embarrass the uhiteo States by taking from ner her principal Pacific possession and