The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-10-26

and agreemeuts. The unrelenting march of events has proven the ufreliabiIity of spch academic i to progress toward the goal of per- naueiit peace it is certAin that the change will be so gradual as not materially to affect our present cir- cumstances. Refations between pep- pies and their governments will continue for many years on sub- stautia1Iy. the same basis as in the past. For many decades, and prob ably centuries to come, arnlafnents will stil1 play q compelling paft during both peace and war In de- ciding the destiny of nations and the welfare of their people. I can not help but. express 3 feeling of almost litter fie1plesspess as to the prospects of disarmament, now and for many. many years to come.
 "The United States has done everything in its power in recent years to promote the cause of world peace and the decrease of arrna- ments. We are almost alone among the victorious nations of the World war in refusing to take any ter ritory, or, except on a very limited scale, reparations. At the Washing ton arms conference, which began about 12 years ago, we set the mag. niflceht example of scrapping ap- proximateiy 400 million dollars worth of real warships, hoping that our sister nations would fol- low suit both in the letter and spirit of the conference. Incidental- ly. while adhering to the letter, some of the nations availed them selves of the opportunity to in- crease considerably their arma- mefits as far as they could do so without directly violating the
 we took an active part in the London naval conference and used every bit of our influence toward the reduction of armaments with results than were little better than those that flowed from the confer ence in Washingtoti. Today we are prpbably the only nation in the world that is able to increase its armainents substantially which showed any particular interest In promoting the Geneva conference. As a matter of fact some of the leading nations tried their best to postpone 1t, believing 1t to be tin- wise and futile at tfls time. Re- cent events have proven them to be quite correct. Our land forces are not much larger than . police force; in fact our marine corps is only about half the size of the New York city police force. Germany today is supposed to be almost totally disarmed and yet she has more soldiers proportionally than we have. We took an active role in promoting the recent one yeai naval ship building holiday and we have abstained from building oui navy up to anywhere near ths limits allowed us by the London naval conference.
 "The present era Is one of thu few international political tension and economic competition. Unrest turmoil and severe economic hard ships are prevalent throughout Flu rope, South America and thu ffent. We have felt 1t here als, for the past four years. From slcf conditions wars are bred and undel such circumstances wars cannot D. avoided in the absence of thu strong stabilizlng innuence of ar maments. Tn the unbalanced statt of the world today no one can pre- dict how or when the United Statei will urgently need strong nayy to safeguard its maritime trade which is 50 intimately. connected with It's domestic security anc economic welfare
 "It is time, then, for us to con. slider the needs of our navy, tnt country's first line of defense. Il is entirely foreign to American tra. ditions that we could consider oui navy as Q weapon Of aggresslon but considering 1t solely as 2 meth. cd of defense, should It not pc se strong that no one VIII attempt z force . war upon tis1
 For many. years now the havs has been neglected. Even with ths 32 vessels projected under the NhA s we will still be 101 ships totalin! 204,00 tons short Of full treat! strength. And the ships we havt are manned by. only SD per zen
 of the personnel reauired TOT Dat tles stations. Shops cannot pc DUH
 in q day nor can officers ana mei be welded ito q ships company op erating as an .efhcient iignting un. in e brief time. It is Tor that reg son the navy department has plead ed with congress year after yea for-a regular, well considered, re placement program, and the per
 sof,nei necessarily to properly maj our ships, rather than to let tn
 navy lag So far behind that to pro vide any sort of q real fleet place before the taxpayer the alternatiy of a third -rate navy or q buildin program of staggering costs.
 i've are q free people and
 peaceabIe one; we want no othe hation's land or goods. But can v
 be sure that all other nations VI
 aiways feel that way toward us
 Huniari nature being what t is, v
 nan aafelx answer .f1os to that"