Evening star., 1923-08-12
NATIONS WRANGLE
FOR INLAND SEA
Mediterranean Again World
Issue, Involving Great
Advantages.
nv PAIL SCOTT MOwRER.

tOpyrlRHt, iV~o.
PARIS, France, August 11.-of the
seven great powers upon whose mar
monies or discords depend the i'm
mediate future OF mankind, tour
Italy, Russia, Great Britain ana
France-are, or desire to become
Mediterranean powers and nave
vital interest in the naval strategy
of that great landlocked sea- 10
Italy it is everything; to RUSSIA II
is the guarded vestibule of the only
ice-free waters available to Russian
trade and shipping; to France II Is
the link between the west-north coast
of the homeland and the southern
coast, as well as the link between
the homeland and the rich African
colonies; to Great Britain 1t Is the
principal naval and commerclal ar
terry of the empire.
perhaps Russian interests naturaily
predominate, they are by no means
exclusive. All seafaring peoples use
the Mediterranean, which Is not only
the historic brood spring OF western
civilization, but a busy seaway lead
ing to some of the worlds richest
markets and greatest seaports-bar
celona, Algiers, Marseilie, Genoa
ConStantinople, Odessa. The attempt
to subject it permanently to some
kind of naval control. whether by the
Mediterranean powers combined or py
any one of them, can therefore no
more be viewed with indifference by
the United States than by Germany
or Japan.
Britain Controls Gatewnyr.
The, chief characteristic of the Med
tterranean. strategically. is that, ex-
cept for the three narrow gateways
of Gibraltar, Suez and the Darda-
nelles, 1t is completely surrounded by
land. OF these three gateways, one.
the Dardanelles, leads merely to an
issueless body of water, the Black
sea, so that. so far as through COM
munications are concerned, there are
really only two gatewayS-the straits
Of Gibraltar and the Suez canal. Who
holds these two is master of the Med
iterranean, for none may go or come
save he permits.
Britain captured the rock of Gibral-
tar in the war of the Spanish success
sion, in 1904. and since the destruc-
tion of the French and Spanish fleets
by. Nelson off Cape Trafalgar. has
commanded unchallenged. at the
western gate. BY the treaty of 1914.
and SO established itself in the mid
die Mediterranean. In the latter
years of the nineteenth century. after
being on the verge of war with
France. Britain gained effective con-
troll of Suez, and this control was
practically consecrated juridically by
the Versailles treaty, in 1919.
Finally. during the recent Greco
Turkish war. Britain occupied, and is
fortifying. Gallipoli. on the Darda-
nelles thus effecting control of the
third Mediterranean gateway 1t is
true that Britain promises the evacua :
tion of GalliDoli in the event of final
peace with the Turks. but only under
r{nS 1,af
N time of crisis would be relatively
easy.
New Rival for British.
During the greater part Of the last
century. the focus of world politics.
owing to RuSSiaS constant desire 20
force its way to the Dardanelles. and
30 Franco British colonial rivaIrles'
vns the Mediterranean, and the Brit
tEh great fleet, in consequence. was
based on Malta The no,ar rapid Tise 1nd El in
the early years of the present CEN
tury, to the Franco British entente
and the transfer of the British meet
to the North sea, leaving the F'rench
fleet concentrated in the Mediter-
ranean, to watch, in the common
Franco-British interest, Austria Hun
gary. and if need be, Italy.
At the end of the great war the
German fleet was destroyed. but a
new rival for Britain had sprung up
in the United States. The strategic
problems devolving from this new
rivalry were happily solved. so 1ar
as Britain and the United states were
concerned, at the Washington CONFER
ence but at the same time the grow :
ing coolness between Britain and
France was aggravated, and IN con-
sequence the center of naval rivalry
has once more shifted to the Medi-
terranean.
.aussia, outcast and temporarily inn
,,stent, especially on the water, VIII
one day again play role, doubtless,
in Mediterranean politics. but tnat
day is not yet. Italy. having won its
way sturdily to rank as a great
power is already a considerable FAC
tor, but whatever it's ambitions may
be. the time to realize them has not
yet. come, for it's growing strength is
still immature, and its mind is still
undecided Balanced between Britain
and France, it's weight Will be felt
principally as 1t sides ultimately with
one or the other
France and Britain.
AS for these last two powers, it is
in them, for the present, that the new
naval rivalry centers. Both are slim
ulated by triumphant history. both
are strong, both are determined, and
as neither seems willing to give in
TO the other there has perhaps now
begun struggle for control of the
Mediterranean which will not soon be
ended.
At first thought the French chal-
lenge to Britain's century-old domi-
nance of the Mediterranean may seem
like temerity but 1t Is perhaps less
so than 1t specifically appears. The
French position in the western and
central Mediterranean Is strong. Part
of the European coast and most of
the African coast in this region are
French Britain has bases at Gibral
tar, and Malta. but France has bases
at Toulon and Bizerta. The British
bases are isolated and have no hinter-
land to draw upon, while behind Tou-
lonris all France, and behind Bizerta
is all Tunisia.
In capital ships the Washington
treaties allow Britain $4,000 tons and
France only $4,000. The British ad-
miralty has announced its intention of
Malta, the central point" of naval de-
fense of the whole British empire. and
IL only capital ships were concerned.
French communication with the north
African colonies. in time of stress.
might we'll remain dependent on
Brftain's good will. But while capital
ships are necessary for naval warfare
at ocean-wide distances. they are
presumably much less effective than
formerly in such narrow waters as
those of Europe. and against such
weapons as submarines and aircraft
submarines and Airplnnes.
In submarines the French at WASH
ington, despite the violent protests of
the British. refused to accept any
limitation. In aircraft, though Britain
has voted credits for thirty-four new
sQuadrons of twelve planes each. and
nually from its cruiser credits to sub
Sidi5e an air line of four 6irigih q