Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-09
Putting the 0nus on Uncle Sam.

. Putting the 0nus on Uncle Sam.
, After demanding a cruiser tonnage
great enough TO shock the world
watching the Geneva three power
naval conference. the first lord of the
. British admiralty, w. c. Bridgeman,
Is undertaking TO picture the United
States in an aggressive role. Because
the American delegation failed TO
walk into my parlor," when the Brit.
ish suggested a limitation Of the size
Of individual warships without a lin.
itation Of total tonnage. the British
would have the world believe that
Uncle Sam has an aggressive war in
the back Of his kindly head. The Brit.
ish. it appears, are in danger of max.
ing themselves ridiculous.
The British proposal. as submitted
to the conference, looked to British
supremacy of the sea. Even a casual
analysis would reveal this to be the
fact. The British believe in sea su.
their island position and widespread
empire make sea supremacy vital to
them. At the Washington naval. con.
ference in 1922, a new idea was in.
terjected. It came from America. It
declared that the United States was
entitled to naval parity with the Brit
fish. If the idea came as a shock to
the British, there was no great cutlery
about 1t in those days. The United
States was rapidly on the way to the
greatest and most powerful navy in
the worlds history. with ample funds
to provide it, the plans all made and
many great ships laid down.
For naval parity with Great Britain
and So ratio as compared to Japan,
the United States gave up its great
feet and sure naval supremacy. 1t
was a magnificent gesture looking to
better feeling in the world and to elm.
ination Of race in naval armament.
It was generous in the extreme.
At the Geneva naval parley. the
world has been watching Britain to
see il she, in her turn, would emulate
the generosity of the United States at
the Washington conference. Gone Is
the supremacy Of the United States
n naval armament. The British, be.
cause Of their great cruiser strength,
! naval bases and merchant marine
capable Of conversion into cruisers in
time of war, occupy today somewhat
the position Of thu United States in
! 1921.
The American delegation went to
Geneva seeking naval equality vita
the British. This was agreed to In
principle by the British delegation
after It had become apparent to them
that the Americans would not yield
the point. P;;: having agreed to
naval equality, the British now pro-
pose to limit the size OF cruisers. bat.
tleships, aircraft carriers and other
craft to point which American naval
authorities believe would be harmful
to American national defense. Because
of her great chain OF naval bases, some
Of them paralleling American coast
wise trade, and her swift merchant
men, Britain would really be much
stronger on the sea than the United
States IL the cruising radius and
armament Of the battleships and the
cruisers were cut down. A smaller
vessel, backed by a naval base which
increases the cruising radius. becomes
an aggressive" type of warship.
The British made their first plea FOR
smaller battleships and cruisers al
Geneva on the ground of economy. II
does not cost so much to build them
smaller. But the veil was lifted and
the economy plea vanished into thin
air when it was divulged that Britain
demanded nearly 100000 tons OF
cruisers, or twice as much as the
maximum tonnage proposed by the
United States for the American and
the British navies. Now, the first
lord Of the admiralty Is taking another
tack. He accuses the United States
OF aggressive tendencies because, for
sooth, the American delegation de-
clines to agree to smaller sized vessels
which, under the circumstances. would
give greater naval strength to the
British.
1t is time that the British realized
that naval equality" means nava
equality, and that America has ma
tional defense needs as well as Brit
ain. There has been silly effort II
the British press to make it appear
that a foolish pride" on the part o
Americans is responsible for the de
mand that the American Navy shall
be second to none. Such criticism
cannot cloud the issue.
Liberia gives n fine object lesson Il