Evening star., 1932-10-27
Rate by Mail-Payabic In Advance.
MARYLAND and Virginia.
other States and Canada
A Stirring Navy Message.

Today is the anniversary on Wnlcn
the hearts and thoughts OF Amer
ican people turn gratefully to the
Nations sure shield" in its first
line of defense-the United States
Navy. october 27 was selected as
Navy day for two symbohcal rea-
sons. 1t was on that date one hundred
and flfty-seven years ago that the Con-
ttnental Congress voted to create meet
to help wage the War Of independence
against Great Britain. The patriotic
fathers. with vision as unerrlng as
the political foresight which later IVES
to eventuate in the adoption OF the
Constitution, thus laid the foundations
of an establishment destined forever TO
preserve American shores from the In
vader's foot That, and the correlated
duty of safeguarding the Nations sea
borne commerce, are the supreme tasks
OF the Navy. In their performance II
has never faltered or failed.
President Hoover strikes a timely
note in his 1892 Navy day message by
notifying the world that unless 1t beats
disarmament words into deeds the
United States will be compelled to
build our Navy to the full strength
provided in the London agreement,
equal to that of the most powerful IN
the world" Such a pronouncement
comes with special force from Herbert
Hoover. From the day he took of1ce
In 1929 his every energy in the inter-
national realm has been bent upon
accomplishing a rational reduction in
ornaments. In his Navy day message
the President reminds the American
people that the national defense Is
the first and most solemn obligation
placed upon the Federal Government
by the Constitution In that AZ
firmation there is little of the Quaker
pacifist," as super-armament zealots are
fond OF describing Mr.. Hoover. And ne
rightfully points out that while the
United States has revealed endless pa
thence in the effort to promote dis
armament by agreement. "our patience
in these negotiations has never for
moment jeopardized the safety OF the
United States
The President paraphrases in digni-
fed terms bit of doggerel popular In
Great Britain half century ago, when
the British lion and the Russian bear
were glaring belligerently at each other.
I'VE don't want to fight it ran, but,
by lingo, if we do, we've got the ships,
we've got the men, we've got the money,
too" That is proclaimed in Mr..
Hoovers Navy day message to be the
attitude of the United States. He says
he need scarcely suggest the vast ex-
penditures that would be involved" by
the necessity to build an American
fleet equal to the strongest af1oat "or
the blow 1t would deal to one of the
most cherished aspirations of our peo-
pie" But the President of the United
States now leaves no shred of doubt
that by reason Of the disturbed con-
ditions prevailing thr7'lghout the world"
Uncle Sam will have no alternative, If
E,ropean and Asiatic statesmen con-
ti0ne to do mere lip service to the cause
Of disarmament and refuse to come to
grips with it.
No more wholesome, no more signih-
cant utterance has emanated from the
White House in years. 1t will ring the
bell from coast to coast and from bor-
der to border of the Union on Navy
day and in the days to come. 1t should
echo across the Atlantic and awaken
somnolent Geneva out of its procrasti-
nation into something resembling action.
That, of course, is its avowed purpose.
Men who are prepared to invest large
E1Ims in brewertes at least shoW that