Evening star., 1925-01-10
NAVY UP TO PAR,
COOLIDGE BELIEVES
Considers Fleets Sufficiently
Strong to Carry Out Pur-
. pose, Protection of US.
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

By FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.
Several years before the World
War the late Lord Fisher, one of the
creators of the modern British navy,
said on a famous occasion: John
Bull can sleep peacefully in his bed
at night" Fisher was referring to
the clamor in the British press and
public for huge new battleship pro-
gram to meet German competition.
Some such message as Fisher ut
tered is the one that Calvin Coolidge
would now send to the American peo-
pie: Uncle Sam can sleep peacefully
in his bed at night" What the Presi-
dent would have in mind is the agi-
tation now raging In Congress for
naval appropriations sufficient to
match the greater gun range and
higher speed of the British navy and
the superiority in light cruisers and
some other craft which. it appears,
Japan enjoys over the United states.
The American Navy, in President
Coolidga's estimation, is all right.
The United States Is perfectly safe at
sea. It IL not safe from the stand
point OF t.osA who would like 10 use
the United States feet for aggressive
war But from the viewpoint of those
who believe the Navy's primary and
exclusive duty is to remain our sure
shield"-that is. an impregnaole oe-
fense-the American Navy Is unques-
tionably sound and adequate IL
needs rounding out at vital spots.
Some Construction Needed.
Half a dozen OF our treaty battle
- nyrTh
ers and "blisters" for protection or
decks and hulls against air and tor
pedo attack We need to build the
eight l0000-ton light cruisers which
have been authorized. but not yet ap-
proprtated for. We shall not be up
to the ratio in aircraft carriers until
the converted battle cruisers Lexing-
ton and Saratoga go into commission
as far as Great Britain and Japan
are concerned. In destroyers we are
still ahead of the treaty ratio allot-
ted US and, therefore, superior to
both Great Britain and Japan. In
submarines, at least numerically, we
are ahead of the ratio. In naval
aviation in general, exclusive OF air
craft carriers, we are we'll above the
ratio.
The broad purpose behind the
American plan for the Washington
naval treaty was to make aggressive
war impossible at sea. When Sec
retary Hughes had his preliminary
conferences hero with Lord Balfour,
the chief of the British delegation,
and Admiral Baron Kato, the leader
of the Japanese delegation, and with
their respective naval advisers, 1t
was speedily determined that the
basic bjective-banishme of an
aggressive naval war-could be rrac-
Ar- tfrc~ Aif a
ship tonnage.
France Balks Plans.
Secretary Hughes. supported by the
British, left no stone unturned as the
conference progressed to effect limt-
tation of other than capital ship tom
mage. That hope was wrecked mainly
by the opposition of France. 1t left
all the naval powers at complete lib
erty to build as many light cruisers,
destroyers, submarines and naval air.
planes as they cared to afford.
Yet, Notwithstanding this deplor-
able temptation to renewed naval
ompetitfon, America, Great Britain
and Japan left the. conference when
1t was over, convinced that the big,
principal purposetwas realized They
were confident 1t had become impos-
sible for either Great Britain or Japan
across, respectively, the Atlantic or
the Pacific. They were equally GER
tain it was now impossible for the
United States to cross those oceans TO
attack the British Isles or the island
empire Of Japan.
seeks Another Farley.
This outstanding factor-nationa al
security-being guaranteed by the
Washington treaty, as the Coolidge
administration sees it, the Preside mt
is unalterably opposed to anythin &
which could be interpreted as q sign
of American desire to renew naval
competition. That Is why, even
though we have the right under the
treaty to elevate our battleship guns.
Mr.. Coolidge Will not take advantage
of the privilege. He does not believe
it necessary from the standpoint Of
national defense. He believes 1t
would be, therefore, an improper ex-
penditure of money. But he is ac-
tuated, above all, by determination
that America shall not lead the way
in nibbling the Limitation treaty to
pieces At the White House no doubt
is left as to the Presidents belief
that gun elevation would be planting
beneath the treaty the first of a
vicious circle of explosives that
eventually would wreck the pact.
The consequence, in Mr. Coolidge's s
belief, would be the eventual break
down of the sentiment which brought
forth the Washington conference.
His passionate desire is not only to
preserve what he thinks is the coun-
try's strong sentiment In favor of
naval limitation, but to develop it.
1t is because the President con-
siders that another conference, which
will take up and carry on where the
Washington conference left off, is
attainable that he stubbornly op-
poses anything that would jeopardize
the prospects of bringing it about.
Copy right, 1921