Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-10-09
BY J0SEPHUS DANIELS
of the Navy in Wilson's
Cabinet.)


RALEIGH, N. c., Oct. S.-Secre
tary Wilbur let the cat out of the
bag.
The prize conundrum Of last
month was: Why was the secretary
of the navy summoned from the
Pacific coast post haste by President
Coolidge, the summons being so i'm
portant that the secretary made part
of the trip in a flying machine?
For some days there have been ex-
plantations that do not explain. 1t
was first reported that Wilbur had
been talking too much about the
Japanese and he was to receive a
rebuke. That may have been partly
responsible because, after talking at
length of the Japanese he said:
The navy is of particular impor-
lance to the Pacific coast because
of the belief that the last acts of
the drama of civilization will occur
in and around the Pacific ocean,"
and marching hosts of two civiliza-
tions stand face to face across the
Pacific" adding that the basing of
fleet in that ocean would be a
deterrent against hasty, passionate
and ill-advised attack and conflict"
and he closed his address, after
pleasant reference to the Japanese,
by saying: There is nothing so cool
ing to a hot temper as piece of
cold steel" AS matter of fact, since
the Washington conference by an
agreement not to fOrtify any Ameri-
can territory in the Pacific the Far
East has been turned over to the
Japanese. There is no hope of keep
ing the open door or any other pol
icy in the Far East, and a navy
without bases would be worth little
in the Pacific.
The formal statement given out
was that the hurried flight of the
secretary of the navy was to discuss
the budget" There is some truth
in that, but I doubt if the public
really understands the significance
of the budget" discussion.
Wilbur Spilled Beans
The domestic reason Wilbur was
called to the capital was that he had
'let the cat out of the bag" prema
turely President Coolidge recently
told us that the Washington confer
ence was sublime" and for months
the people have been fed up on the
miracle worked by that 5-5-3 caba-
listic gathering. If the Washington
conference was a failure, to which
other achievement could the admins
tratiOn point?
Mr.. Wilbur's estimates disproved
tie rhetorical claims for the Wash
inGton conference and showed that
al the big pretensions of the good
it had done were mere bunk. Oh, no,
the secretary did not say so. On the
contrary, the day before he received
the COme-At-Once call he had praised
the Washington conference because
it had saved 1920, 900, 900 by iunking
the dreadnaughts under construction
That sounds like a big pile of money.
But if he had told of the millions
required to make the American navy
come UP to the ratio, the saving
would have shrunk
He did not tell the people that
the United States had by the Wash
inGtOn conference done three things
of which no American should be
proud. The Washington confer
ence-
l. Surrendered the supremacy of
the sea to Britain. The British navy
was left with large battle cruisers
when the five being built for the
United States were scrapped. We
have none. The British far outnum-
Der us in light cruisers.
,. Surrendered the supremacy of
the air to France. France has ia
air squadrOns while the United States
has 25. France has over three times
as many as Britain and her superior
ity in Europe was to 1.
5. Surrendered. Inc supremacy of
the Far East and the Pacific to
Japan.
Nobody~was allowed to speak about
tie navy in the Washington con.
ference except Secretary Hughes.
who does not know anything about
it. He believes, and his proposal
proved it, that the standing of navies
is represented by the dreadnaught.
The secretary of the navy was not
even allowed to serve on any COM
mittee at the Washington confer
ence and the naval officers with
knowledge were muZzled. Hughes
was the whole business when naval
matters were discussed The navy
department was swallowed UP by the
state department. Everybody ex-
cept Hughes knows that naval
strength depends upon various units,
aircraft. submarines, fast cruisers
and others as we'll as dreadnaughts.
Indeed, there are able naval states
men who believe the dreadnaught is
more OF liability than an asset, and
vet it was the only naval force that
received any consideration at the