Evening star., 1924-06-02
IN TODAY'S SPOTLIGHT
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS

Tho House Of Representatives has
passed q bill authorizing an expenditure
| Of $111,000.0c0 for the construction Of
eight cruisers for the Navy. Thereupon
the erroneous announcement goes forth
that the weakness Of our Navy has
been made good, provided tho Senate and
Executive agree.
It appears to the public that through
| some oversight the ratio authorized by
the international disarmament confer
ence Of Washington. which permitted q
ratio Of naval strength to be 5-5-3, for
the United States. Great Britain and
Japan. respectively. had gone by default
on our part down to a ratio OF 4 for
the United States. while the strength
for Great Britain and Japan had been
| maintained, and that now that Congress
had started to correct that neglect by
authorizing eight new cruisers. all
would be we'll.
1t Will take about six years to
build these eight cruisers. and even
firmed by the Senate and Executive,
they still exist only on paper. and
within the six years much may hap
pen on both the Atlantic and Pacific
much with grave consequence.
Quoting from a speech made Few
months ago by Capt +. III. Schof1eld
Of the U. s. Navy:
THE total modern cruiser str stne1g.a agnn
In ten vessels. The total cruiser
amounts to 17s,oo0 tons. Of which six
vessels are still to be built, the totai
eight. If we should lay down today
enough cruisers to meet this program
Of the japanese on the b-3 ratio, we
would have to lay down 223,000 tons
In twenty,three ssenr,s,ed vessels: Ide mGnes fop
single one OF these cruisers, ana yet,
next to battleships, the strategic
control Of the Pacific depends as
much upon cruisers as upon any otnef
instead Of twenty three the House
authorizes only eight!
* x i: X
There was a failure of the House
to appropriate s6.5Oo,ooo for elevating
our guns upon battleships, SO as to
increase their range. This failure Is
said by certain informed critics to have
been due to personal considerations OF
certain members of the House. ana
had nothing to do with the merits or
the case. 1t Is expected that the SEN
ate and then the conference will rein-
state the item.
The last session of Congress did
make this gun elevation appropria-
ton. but il was not effective owing 10
| a misunderstanding among our dlpIo-
mats. 1t had been stated by some
officials in the Navy Department that
IL was necessary to elevate our guns
and thereby increase their shooting
range because England had recently
elevated hers. 1t was stated that
British battleships could stand miles
beyond our range and hit our YES
sells while we would be helpless, ow-
ing to the shorter range of our guns.
All the British ships outrange thfr-
teen of our battleships. while only
five of our ships outrange all but
three of the British vessels.
But the State Department was told
by Great Britain that she had not ele-
waited any of her guns since the armi-
stice; hence 1t was inferred that our
action proposing to elevate our guns
transpires that while Great Britain
had not elevated her guns since the
armistice, she had done SO during
the war. In the meanwhile. at the
request of our State Department, the
Navy suspended operations and the
IS, 100000 reverted back into the
Treasury until a new Congress should
Inappropriate it And the House has
failed to do SO.
X X X X
Great Britain has nineteen battle
ships with a range of 10000 yards.
OF the British ships now building, the
two Rodneys will have a speed Of 81
knots and the Hood speed of so
knots She has five battleships 4
knots faster, and four battle cruisers.
ho1 or
ours.
None of our ships can exceed 81
knots an hour. Consequently. If we
were at war with Great Britain and
her battleships of 10000 yards range,
encountered our ships of 10000 yards