The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1922-03-03

! Is u mere matter OF lOTu. time
period is always specified in treaties,
but treaties may be renewed. In fact,
IT is the customary thing. The An
glo-Japanese Alliance, for example,
has been renewed several Zines. Who
can doubt then, that the Powers VIII
be eager to renew an instrument
which represents such a savings as
does this Naval Treaty.
Assuming that IT will be renewed
at the end Of the fifteen year period,
leave to those of you who have we'll
oiled adding machines at your dis
posal, to figure the eventual saving
to the United States, and to the 9TH
er nations, by reason of this Treaty.
All this does not take into account
the enormous expenditure which
would have been occasioned If the
fast-increasing size of battleships
should have rendered the Panama
Canal practically useless for military
purposes. There probably are not
many among you who know that the
great uper-dreadnaughts which were
under construction for the American
navy would have had scarcely more
than two feet of leeway in passing
through the locks of the Panama Ca
nal. This physical fact constituted a
very real problem for the American
navy of the" future. Bigger guns
must have bigger ships to float them
and If other nations started produc-
| ing guns of longer range than ours,
we would have had to follow suit.
The Panama Canal is necessary to the
| American scheme of naval defense.
! IL is not so essential To the naval
/ strategy of other nations either in the
! Atlantic or the Pacific. Should the
! Panama Canal have become impas-
sable to modern fighting craft, the
/ United States might have been forced
| to one of two things-either to main
I tain huge fleets both in the Atlantic
and in the Pacific, or to construct an
other canal. Either alternative would
| have cost the taxpayers of the Unit
ed States other hundreds of millions
of dollars. 1t is gratifying indeed,
to reflect that under the Hughes pro-
gram the size of capital ships is linn
tied to $4,000 tons.
Five billions of dollars saved to the
people of the United States by the in
genuity of her statesmen! Think for
a moment what that means. 1t
means that our taxes will be reduced
by that amount. Or 1t means, if you
so desire, that this vast sum could be
made available for the building of
roads, the draining of swamps, or the
reclamation of the vast tracts of arid
lands in the west, which need only
water to make them blossom like the
rose. Furthermore, and now l speak
to those of you young men who were
on the Marine, at ST. Mihiel, and in
the Argonne-it might possibly con-
tain the solution of the soldier bonus
question.
A hundred years from now, when
students of history look backward up
on that series of international events !
beginning in 1914 it is likely they |
will accord to the Conference on the
Limitation of Armaments a far high
er place than do we who scan each re-
port so suspiciously, looking for jok
ers. hidden motives, entangling al
liances and surrenders of sovereign
ty. Historians who view with calm
dispassion the progress of civiliza-
tion. its alternate advance and retro
gression. will have the opportunity
which is denied to us of seeing this
conference in its proper relationship
to the Notwithstanding war which led |
to it, and that era of peace or at least
of partial relief from the burdens of
war which should result from it. They |
doubtless will see that the Conference /
called by President Harding has mi /.
tiated what have referred 70 as The I,
Age of Reason"
No clearer evidence Of the fact
that the British do not regard the |
Four Power Pact as an alliance could |
be given than that furnished by their 7.
insistence upon a provision in the ma
val treaty for a reimbursement of naval !
ratio in case of an attack upon one |
of the parties to the agreement. In |
such an event the treaty provides that |
the nation attacked shall have the |
right to serve notice of its intention
to increase its quota of ships beyond |
that provided for in the treaty and
the other powers likewise have the
right to make such adjustments as
they deem proper. Provision is al
so made for consultation and read
justment in case of difficulties be-
tween nations parties to the agree
ment