The Indianapolis times., 1929-01-28
DEADLY PERIL
seen IN RACE
TO RULE SEAS
Hoover Faces Menace of
War With Britain in
Navy Problem.
BY WILLIAM PHILIP STMMS

BY WILLIAM PHILIP SIMMS
Foreign Editor, Scripps-Howard Newspapers
WASHINGTON, Jan. 28.-No
American president ever entered the
White House with q, more ticklish
job on his hands than Herbert Hoo
yer will have in the Anglo Ameri-
can dispute over who owns the
Seven Seas.
The seriousness of the quarrel be-
tween the United States and Great
Britain daily is growing more ap-
parent. Admittedly the spectre of
war hovers black and ugly in the
background.
Following the sensational but
reasoned warning of Ramsay Mac
Donald, head of the British labor
party and ex-premier, that war be-
tween the two countries is a pos
sibility to be reckoned with, Sem
ator William E. Borah, chairman of
the foreign relations committee,
comes through with one of the most
significant speeches heard on
NdiJ1bOl I'LL III OCNCl1 y Cc1l
Britain, said the senator from
Idaho, must be given a chance to
prove her fair intentions toward
America regarding freedom of the
seas, failing which, he predicted,
the last vestige of the Washington
treaty limiting naval armaments
would be wiped out and we would
find 1t necessary ito build net only
against Great Britain, but against
any combination of navies that
might be brought together, leading
probably to another cataclysm
like that of 1914"
Something to Think About
1t gives Britain and America
something to think about when men
like Macdonald and Borah talk
like that. Neither is war monger
nor jingo. Both are interna-
nationally known as peace advocates
and proponents of war outlawry.
The two nations never faced a
more difficult nor more perilous
problem. AS Tennyson expressed it
for all Britons, "the fleet of England
is her all-in-all."
A thousand years ago Alfred the
Great blockaded the Danes with his
rowboat armada, and "a thousand
years later George v sunk the fleet
of Wilhelm II at Scapa Flow to rid
himself of a menace on the high
seas. Now the freedom of these
same seas has become vital to the
peace and prosperity of the United
States, perhaps to its very exist
ence, even. And SO the clash.
Prior to the World war, we had
a big imagination and comparative
ly small production. We consumed
pretty much all we produced. Since
the war, our Immigration has been
curtailed and our production has
enormously increased.
Depend on Exports
So we must sell this surplus
abroad, otherwise our production
must slow down, throwing millions
of workers out of employment and
otherwise playing havoc with our
economic system. For this reason,
economists tell us, our foreign trade
spells the difference between pros
perity and hard times
AS things stand, Great Britain is
in position-or is putting herself in
position, by building more and more
cruisers and merchant Ships-to put
crimp in our foreign trade when
ever the occasion to do SO arises.
In this connection, though it has
nothing to do with the question of
naval parity between the two coun-
tries, Americas foreign trade would
go ''to pot" in the event of difficult
ties with England for quite another
reason. Distribution of American
goods abroad now is largely in the
hands of the British.
In Central and South America,
which countries I recently visited,
I found British acting as agents for
American products almost every
where. This not only means that
British ships are favored in trans
porting our goods, but, in the event
of trouble, our whole distribution
machinery would break down over
night, even if we had freedom of
the seas.
Fault of American Youth
To be fair to American export
ers, however, it must be said that
the fault is not theirs. American
youths refuse to make their careers
in foreign countries, whereas young
Britishers are glad enough to do
so and for less money.
They quickly get on to foreign
languages and customs and stick to
their jobs, whereas American boys
get honesick and return home. Our
foreign trade never will be on a
sound footing until this situation
is remedied.
Winning from Britain the right
of neutrals to use the seas, and
forestalling another and perhaps
deadlier race for naval ornaments
the winner to rule the wave, viii
be as big task as Hoover possibly
can have during his administration
For another 1914 may depend upon
L. L. L r.