Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1922-07-28
Note: This is the fourth of series
of articles on the Merchant Marine by
the Chairman of the Shipping Board.
ARTIcLE4.

The great Conference on the Limi-
tation of Armaments, which ended
with such happy results at Washing
ton, provides for American naval
strength on an equality with that of
Great Britain, Japan's in turn being
forty per cent less This is known
popularly as the 5-5-3 naval agree
ment.
But there can be no thought of
naval equality if that equality is to
rest on purely naval ships. A mer-
chant marine is as much a part of a
nations navy as the capital ships Of
the navy itself. The yeriest laygan,
if he but stop to consider, will realize
that in time of war navy requires
ships for bunkering, ships for supplies,
both of the cargo and refrigerator
type, to an exSnf that no navy pos
sesses in time of peace. In addition,
the very backbone of navy for of
fensive warfare is merchant marine
of the fast cruiser and raider type.
This was exemp'ifed during the war
by depredations committed by the
PRINCE EITEL FREDERICK, KRON.
PRINZ FREDERICK WILHELM and
MOEWE, and other fast German mer-
chant ships on the merchant shipping
of the world. 1t required a wide diver
sion of British naval ships to rur
down finally and drive these German
commerce raiders oil the seas. Thus
in times of war fast merchant ships
divert the very best of ships in naval
service.
Merchant Ships Essential To Navy
When a navy is engaged in either &C
tive warfare or a blackade at great
distance from the home base, it requires
an uneading merchant fleet OF every
type to keep it going fast passenger
ships for Taiding, scouting and car
rage of airplanes; refrigerator ships
for food tankers and golfers for
bunkering, and regular cargo ships
for other supplies
We. all too we'll remember, that
when President Roosevelt made the
proud gesture involved in the dispatch
of our battle feet around the world, it
had to be bunkered and supplied in
the Pacific almost entirely by foreign
flag ships. Our naval giant, while i'm
pressing the world at the same time
proved its feet were made of clay.
Such shame and inlpotency must
never again come to America.
In addition to our naval needs, the
late war has proved that if an army
l. - 10 +r,,cro~+od +baro must he an
amending merchant marine under our
flag. 1t is through the all too late and
costly realization of this very need
that we find ourselves in possession OF
our today's Goyernment-owned fleet.
Naval Equality Threatened.
If we are to be on anything like
naval parity with Great Britain under
the 5-5-3 program, then there is no
problem before the American people
that presses more urgently for solu-
ton than the problem Of our merchant
marine AS Secretary DENLY has said,
if all naval armament were ended by
world agreement, Great Britain would
be more powerful on the sea than ever
in its history; because its vast mer'
chant marine, could be used, If no
other navy existed, for war purposes
as well as to meet peace needs.
In the passenger and combination
passenge ships, which are
the very backbone of merchant ma
rine for wartime needs, we are still
sadly deficient, for our war-built feet
includes few passenger ships. OF this
type of ships America has today 70
compared to approximately $50 belong
ing to Great Britain, or almost hve
times as many such vital ships in
favor of Britain as against ourselves.
When age and speed, in addition, are
considered, as considered they must
be. the ratio is even higher in favor of
Great Britain.
So that all thought must be put. aside
that there is any possibility OF our belhS
on a 5-5-3 naval basis with Great Britain
unless and until we have national policy
To insure the merchant marine which must
he added to the total of our navy to ind
the true basis of relationship to the naval
actualities of Great Britain. To say, with
out such a merchant marine, that the
Washington conference has resulted ln
naval equality between ourselves ana Gfeal
Britain, Is TO display an A6hoA" 1855
NAV no maid for later in the humiliation
of ouy country and at inexcusable sacrifice
of life and treasure
Merchant Vessels War Need.
Because one of the major features OF
President Harding's program is the oe'
velopment of such a merchant marine under
private American initiative he willingly en-
tered into the Washington pact with the
washington agreement came the caneella-
ton of many naval ships building ana the
ten-year naval holiday. Unless an Ameri'
can merchant marine be created during
that period, the art of shipbuilding viii be
largely lost to America; and if war should
come again, we will find ourselves at sad
disadvantage to the maritime nations OF
the world whose shipyards have been kept
alive
The legislative program proposed by the
Administration and now before Congress
is designed to meet at one time both the
naval and peace needs of our merchant ma
rine. In the next article shall discuss
those peace needs