Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-28

last war was not war to end wars,
and that we are not yet in the Utopian
period where the Slavic bear, the Brit
ish lion, the French unicorn and the
American eagle can lie down to rest
in peace with an immunity from
attack.
So long as nations are composed of
individuals in whose breasts surge
emotions or envy, hatred, cupidity,
lust, anger-just so long will nations
be moved to pursue courses of nation
al ggrandisement, which will incite
other nations to war in the protec.
ton of what they deem to be right
ard just.
Just a generation or so ago the Navy
went down to the sea in sailing ships.
succeeded in turn by steam-prOpelled
vessels, and we all remember the re-
cent electrification of our dread
naughts. Even now Great Britain is
forging ahead with dreadnaughts,
which are half battleship and half air
plane carriers. Every Japanese war
ship, submaFfhe, destroyer, cruiser,
dreadnaughE carries its quota of air
planes in addition to large airplane
carriers.
The airplane cannot be relegated to
q subsidiary place in the development
of the fleet, although there has been
fixed determination on the part of
the Navy Department to subordinate
it's activities and treat 1t as an aux
Hilary arm of that service. The navy
of the future will he the navy that
flies. The army of the future will be
the army that flies. National defense
demands that we keep abreast of the
activities of every country, and when
10 orin ~ of N IN nf
is discovered, it is an objective on
which the eyes of vigilant American
public will focus, with a demand that
our Army and our Navy officials-the
servants of the people-utilize and de-
velop that new instrumentality, SO
that America can be free from at
tack and our national prestige shall
not be in danger of being crushed
under the wheels of hostile invading
air force.
How War Will Start.
We like to consider ourselves as
free from attack. We adopt a patron
izing air and say that America will
never indulge in a war of aggression.
In my opinion, we will never even
have the opportunity of debating about
the next war, because it will come in
the air, over night, and the declara
ton of war will be ushered in by the
dropping of a bomb. which will not
be preceded by the interchange of dip
lomatic courtesies as in the past.
The American people want all the
facts; we want them heard dispas
sionately; we want them presented dis
passionately, so that our judgment
will not be biased or prejudiced by the
individual viewpoint or the individu
ais desires.
The world has moved swiftly these
last few years. We talk to London on
the telephone; we speak to Australia
on the radio; we fly across the At
lantic without touching land; air lanes
are spreading over the surface of the
earth like huge spider webs in the
sky.
1t is the height of folly for a great
nation like America to linger in it's de
fensive program in the shades of the
Civil War, or with the relics of the
| Sp;tNish-American War.
Wherever and whenever a deadly
fighting machine is invented, America
must not only master it, but must own
it's full share of it.
Copyright. 1927
series of articles by Col Davis. discussing
Americas defense problems Another
will appear in The Evening Star to-
morrow.