The Alaska daily empire., 1922-01-05

States fleet would sweep mines in the
 North Sea and in the British Channel,
 would convey American troops to France,
 yet these unforeseen activities came to be
 done
 MT McSweeney goes from this position to the on that the British naval bases the Unite states on the Bermudas the Bahamas and in tn West Indies, make it possible for Great Britain prevent the United States from properly defendin herself, besides forming stations from which attac might be made He contends that:
 Any naval base may become part of
 hostile feet-of-war, quite beyond those
 alterations which lie in the easy replenishing
 of supplies without which no navy can do its
 best work The British recognize this to
 such extent that in their tactical scheme
 the Island of Ascension in the South Atlantic
 is rated and known as the H. M. s. Ascen-
 sion. At the time the American fleet made
 it's famous trip around the world, the lack
 of naval bases fully felt. There
 not even colliers enough. Most of them were
 chartered from foreign shipowners, from
 who in times of would not give
 their vessels for that purpose. The British
 fleet does not suffer from such handicap.
 It has naval bases at convenient distances,
 and these provisioned and munitoned for
 ill times of peace The British navy is
 able today to steam to any part of the globe
 without applying for stores at single for
 egn port. In case of necessity it can find
 shelter under the guns of British naval bases
 anywhere. There is only one thing the Brit
 ish navy do. It steam from
 the Atlantic to the Pacific without going
 around Cape Horn. But it has that lane
 open always, since at the southernmost point
 of the Western Hemisphere it has coaling
 stations, which be converted into naval
 bases of the first class without great effort.
 On the other hand, the British navy
 easily prevent the United States fleet in
 the Pacific from joining the Atlantic fleet.
 Though have dug the Panama Canal,
 the fact remains that British bases in the
 West Indies are most efficient barrier
 against joint action of the American navy,
 barrier greater than the rock that had
 to be moved before there was Panama
 Canal. The United States could af-
 ford to enter into the Hughes proposal only
 if Great Britain would be willing not only
 to scrap her naval bases in the West Indies,
 the Bahamas and Bermuda but turn these
 islands over to their populations. So long as
 Great Britain is the master of a point that
 can be made naval base long must the
 conversion of such a point into a naval base
 be taken into serious consideration.
 Of course, the obvious Mr McSweeney argument is the fact that the proposed limitation the navies was not part of any sort of a progral for with Great Britain It was assumed by thos who proposed it that there will be no war betwee the United States and that country. The propose was designed, in fact, with the idea in mind tha there will not be war among the nations partcipa ing in the agreement. If the United States had contemplated war with Japan, much less Great Br tain, MT. Hughes would never have proposed nava limitations. Instead he would probably, have bee working out with the Secretaries of War and tn Navy the General Staff and Naval Boards anothe naval program to follow the completion of the sc called 1916 program This program if carried ou would give the United States the strongest navy i the world, but if with Great Britain or Japa were of the contingencies regarded as likel, this country would want her ascendency be ia greater than it provides. The Hughes plan was peace plan It was arranged without any idea of a tacking Great Britain, Japan any other powerfr nation. It planned, also. that none coul successfully attack us