Evening star., 1928-10-27
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

ident Jefferson, our first notable paci-
fist, who, asserting that there would be
no more need of a navy, actually do
mated to Morocco 100 of the largest
gun carriages belonging to our naval
vessels. He thought that thereafter,
instead of men-of-war, all that We
would ever need would be some gun
boats in important harbors to serve in
policing the harhors. for had not the
peace-just like in 1928? A few months
thereafter our Navy was fighting against
vessels of Moroccan pirates equipped
with these very gun carriages we had
donated.
There has been much discussion
about whether Great Britain had pro-
tested against our elevating our guns
Secretary Kellogg issued an official
statement denying that Great Britain
had ever made such a protest. That
seemed to settle the dispute. Seemed!
No, the government of Great Britain
never did officially commit such a faux
pas as to attempt to dictate to the
United States that our Navy should
not raise the angle of its guns, while
the British navy was doing just that
thing. But there are very good grounds
for saying that one Ramsay MacDon-
aid had protested that "the United
States would be acting in violation or
the spirit of the disarmament agree
ment" entered into at the Washington
Conference in 1921, if such an increase
of range be given to our guns. MacDon-
aid Is not the British government. Sec
retary Kellogg's official and diplomatic
statement Is true technically.
The elevation of American guns Is
IS per cent: 1t Is proposed to elevate
them to 80 per cent. Why? Until the
World War it had never been possible
to spot the shots Of vessels by airplane
observation. The angle of is per cent
threw the shots as far as 1t was possible
for a vessel to observe its target; 1t
was useless to shoot beyond the horizon.
To elevate the gun to 80 per cent angle
would add 10000 yards to the range
more than miles beyond the horizon.
In the World War there was fought
a naval battle off the Falklands, in
which two German vessels. the Scharn-
horst and the Geniseau, were opposed
to two British vessels, the Invincible
and Infiexible. The German ships were
armed with 8-inch guns, whose great
est elevation was Is per cent; the Brit
ish ships carried 12-inch guns with an
could hit the German ships 5 miles
beyond the longest range of the Ger
man shells-5 miles down below the
horizon. So the British simply kept
out of range of the enemy. all day
long, and by evening had sunk both
German ships without ever having come
near enough to receive hit.
Today. by means of aviator observers
and radio, the Navy can see over the
rim of the globe, and victory sits upon
the mast of the ship with the longest
range provided It Is alert enough to
keep beyond the limits of the range OF
its enemy.
If the campaign orators persist in
calling upon us to return to Jeffer-
sonian principles" naval experts argue,
1t is we'll to see If that means giving
away our naval defense to some mod
ern Moroccan pirates" who little
later will be fighting us with our own
donations. 1t Is fallacy to contend that
the world has seen the last OF wars
or would see the last If only we would
accept the League Of Nations which
has failed to prevent % wars since II
was organized through the leadership OF
President Wilson MIR. Wilson himself
declared that not only was the hope
that never again would armed force ne
needed in defense of civilization a fu-
tile and dangerous fallacy, but ne
added, Armed force Is in the back
ground in this program (the program
of the League of Nations), but 1t is in
the background, and If the moral force
of the world will not suffice, the physi-
cal force of the world shall"
He kept us out of war'-until after
re-election-but he was never so fooled
about the lend of wars" as are the eX-
! treme pacinsts who assume that all for
| eign nations may be trusted never to
attack America, but that America cam