Evening star., 1925-09-05

| Correspondence of The Star and New York
World
| LONDON, Aug. 20.-By the naval
program passed by the British House
! of Commons July % definite lead is
| taken by Great Britain in ship con-
struction over the whole world. Prior
| to this program the building of the
new type of 10,000-ton cVuiser by the
| various powers as follows;
Great Britain 5
GniIed states. ,.....'......-'. M
France ...................
At"iS - '.'' ''...''..' '...''.''.
| building for the Australian govern
ment. Five of the new type 10000
| ton cruisers actually building for
Great Britain now were laid down by
Mr.. Ramsey MacDonalds Labor gov
ernment. When the new program is
put in hand, which it will be during
the present financial year ending
! March, 1926, the British admiralty
will have building nine cruisers, and
| proposes to lay down three more in
each of the next four years up till the
end of the financial year of 1929.
| AT first sight it might appear that
Great Britain is deliberately aiming
| at naval hegemony. This is not
! really the case. The alleged con-
( IiillllS VI pOliCS VI lil6 LABOR gov
ernment in continuing to add to the
fleet is explained by the Labor
| leaders themselves, who say they
| assumed office when the estimates
were already in draft, that they were
! raw and inexperienced, We're faced
with strong demands from the British
admiralty and the naval war staff
| had not an independent majority in
the House of Commons and feared
Il InIrIf q f1fl nft 10 e L.
| Liberals.
Race Is Not Deliberate.
Butthough it is a fact that, by the
victory of the naval chiefs over the
chancellor Of the eXchequer, a new
race in naval construction has been
initiated, this is not deliberate and it
will be perfectly genuine, by the
| Blue Water" school, known popu-
larly as the blue Funk" school.
when other nations follow suit and
embark on a large program of cruiser
construction in their turn.
The real policy pursued is very
simple. 1t is the result of a con-
tinued contest between the naval
chiefs, the permanent officials of the
admiralty and their political sup
cabinet as a whole, including the
chancellor of the exchequer, in par
ticular, on the other hand.
The navy department always de-
mands the greatest possible shipbuild-
ing program it can wiring from a re-
luctant treasury. The chancellor of
the eXchequer and the treasury
chiefs resist these demands to the ut
most and attempt to get off as lightly
as possible. This struggle goes on
behind the scenes every year, no
matter what government is in power
in Britain.
Occasionally the civilians and the
treasury win. and. as for example. in
the middle of the nineteenth century,
the navy was reduced considerably in
strength. At one period, some 20
years ago, the British fleet had less
effective strength in sea-going vessels
than the French navy of that day.
And at that time France was the
hereditary and apparently permanent
enemy of Great Britain.
Always React OH Public
On these occasions there is always
reaction on British public opinion.
The British have the sea sense devel-
oped more than any other natien
Their empire is scattered over the
world and is held together by the
oceans. Every year, with an increas-
ing population and the progressive
decay of agriculture, Britain becomes
more and more dependent on sea borne
supplies of foodstuffs and raw ma
terial. This dependency has been in
tensified in the present century by the
greater need of mineral oils, rubber
and nitrates, which cannot be pro-
duced at present within the country
When these reactions come the pen
dulum swings in an opposite direction.
Thus we had the naval defense act
when a fixed program of construc-
ton was decided upon for a series
of years in the latter part of the nine
teenth century, and which at the time
when the Boer War broke out had
placed the British fleet in a position
of unchallenged supremacy as against
the rest of the world.
The admiralty cannot be blamed
Its function is to prepare as strong
fleet as possible. As it happens, the
admiralty is the most deeply in
trenched of all the government de-
partments. A threat of resignation by
the board of admirals can usually be
relied on to create a panic and bring
recalcitrant ministers to submission.
There may be a small minority of
naval officers who desire war. Men
trained all their lives to the use Of
a certain weapon seek opportunities
of making use of their knowledge and
Skill 1t used to be an old toast in
naval meSSes: Here's TO a bloody
war and a sickly climate" the idea
be cleared by death and the survivors
benefit accordingly.
Potential Enemy Convenient.
The serious and responsible chiefs
certainly do not want war. But they
find it convenient to have a potential
enemy. Up to the commencement of
the twentieth century this enemy was
France, who, in her turn, had taken
the place of Holland and Spain With
the increase of power of the German
Empire and the construction of the
German fleet, Germany as the next
strongest power stepped into the
place of France. Only the student
of history in years to come will be
able accurately to appraise the i'm
portance of the construction of the
German fleet as a cause of the great
war.
The war ended with the oblitera-
tion of the German navy as a fight
ing force. The admiralty was at
loss for some years as to what policv
to pursue. There were those who
pointed to the strength of the Amer
lean fleet, greatly enlarged during
the war, and pointed to America as a
convenient power against which to
build warships. But this was too
much even for the somewhat Him
formed and credulous British to