Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-10-27

tirement law is one of the chief
reasons why the navy is able TO en-
list men of the calibre of those who
now serve in it. Because of this Ind
other attractions, the naval service
has now become highly selective
OF those apparently qualified who
apply for enlistment, only one in
three can get in at all. The navy
is now able to pick its men with
great care.
The young man who enlists in
the navy can do sc in the knowl-
edge that he is taking up a career
of fundamental use and value TO
his fellow countrymen. For every
dollar the people pay him the peo-
pie get value received, and this is
true ven If he and his mates never
have to go to actual war for their
employers. In fact, the view that
a navy is an essential but expensive
ornament in time of peace and only
pays for the money invested in il
after a war comes is a view that
is rapidly passing away. The chief
value of the navy is its ~peace-time
value. and it serves the country
well merely by existing.
The recent revelations made by
the revolutionary governments of
Europe in ransacking their foreign
offices and publishing the secret
documents pigeonholed therein have
constituted a powerful endorse
ment of the wisdom of the policy
Of the United States in maintaining
a strong navy during the past thirty
years. We are beginning to see
something of the fate we have
escaped, and to understand that for
tha aGpana wa cor thopL tha A y1nri-
can navy. Even without it's splen-
did record in the World War, the
navy has justified all the effort
spent upon it.
These formerly secret but now
published archives show that for
the generation preceding the out
break of the World War, diplomacy
in Europe was but another name
for warfare, bloodless, but without
conscience or consideration for the
rights of weak nations. The sue
cessful diplomacy has been thu I
which could command the greatest
military force If it needed to call
upon it. The diplomats masked
what they were doing with such fiue
words as peaceful penetration"
sphere of influence" and the like;
but actually all these words have
meant the conquest of peoples too
weak to resist. Behind each set of
successful diplomats stood power
armies and navies. With these the
imperialistic nations carried on
their expansion by coercion.
Navy Backs Up Diplomats
1t is not so long ago that the
school Biographies showed a large
part of the north coast of Africa
belonged to Turkey. 1t was terri
tory over which the Sultan had
either direct temporal power or the
influence that was his by virtue of
his being the head of the Moham-
medan religion. Today France has
Egypt is Independent. The Turks
were skilled diplomats; they were
even fierce fighters on land; but
they lacked a navy strong enough
to command the respect of their
more powerful adversaries.
And what was true of the Medi-
terranean Coast and other parts OF
Africa has been true also of Asia,
Parts of China were Topped off, ard
it was only the firm assertion of an
open-door policy by our own state
department that prevented perhaps
the ACKNOWLEDGMENT of China. In
southern Asia and among the rich
archipelagos of the South Sea has
the same story been repeated-de-
fenseless peoples exploited by those
who had the power to conquer, If
need be, by might.
One great section of the world,
and only one, has been exempt from
the raids of European diplomacy
the Western Hemisphere-North
and South America. A hundred
years ago this government enunci-
ated the Monroe Doctrine and since
that time has been prepared to
maintain that doctrine by force,
principally by naval force. As q
result, no European flag flies on
American soil today except ove1
land occupied before the United
States became a nation. We can
thank force, the potential force oi
the American navy, floating in our
harbors or cruising up and down
our coasts, for our immunity.
There is no reason to believe thai
the same diplomatic game is no
now going forward in the same old
way. There was a brief moment ir
which 1t seemed that the nations o.
the earth might attempt to de
away with warfare altogether, bu'
that moment has passed. Militarisn
10 as aggressive as ever. The man