Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1936-02-20


coed 5000 tons each, but if 10,00O-ton
cruisers now in service are declared
| obsolete and ready for the scrap-iron
pile. they may be replaced by cruis-
ers of exactly the same tonnage. As
for battleships, $4,000 tons has been
agreed upon as the maximum size.
1t is that already. There is no hint
of reduction. Germany, BUILDING
a modern navy. has not yet been asked
to join the conference because OF
French opposition, and Russia, whic h
was to have been invited, is busy Gre
ating a navy which will correspond
to the mighty Soviet armies.
Land Armaments.
While the great powers strengthen
their position on the sea, they are
equally busy with what they call
their land defense; almost every day
new reports of army increases come
to hand: Great Britain is about TO
add something like 400 million pounds
sterling to her military budget; Rus
STA short time ago announced that
she would increase the size of her
army from 100000 to 100000; ia
pan is operating with the heaviest
military budget ever recorded in her
history; Germany, of course, is striv-
ing very hard to recapture her place
as a first-rank military power; the
United States House of Representa-
tives has passed ap act providing for
a new expenditure of $545,226,31S for
national defense (sOme of it going to
rivers and harbors''. but for that
same ultimate purpOse); France leads
the world in ornaments increase, and
during the last few weeks added new
vast sums to her military budget, and
Italy is busy showing the world what
applied militarism really, is.
Ethiopian War.
1t is too early to say whether the
Italian war experiment in Ethiopia
will be success OF defeat for the
Italian armies. Just now the rumorS
about battles are as conflicting DIS
they have been ever since the be-
ginning of the war'lin early October.
One salient fact-not to. be lost sight
offs that Italy has not yet gained
any of her important detectives. One
day the bulletins report that they
have made great progress; the next
day another story comes to the effect
that they have been checked.
Exactly what the situation is, one
cannot ascertain, for all war dispatch
es are censored and given either an
Ethiopian or an Italian cOloring. At
the present moment it seems that the
Italians have suffered a quite seri-
Gus defeat on the southern front, and
have won certain advantages along
their northern lines. But, it may be
remembered-at the very start it
was said that Italy's armies were to
march straight against Adds Ahaba,
the capitol of Ethiopia, and that it
would be the easiest thing in the
world to capture that city. The So
Der fact is that the Italians are hun
dreds of miles from Adds Ababa.
League Nations.
While the Italian attempt to con-
quer Ethiopia goes on. there is no.
where within the League of Nations
any indication that efforts are to be
made to stop the war. 1t is true that
there is still some furtive talk about
applying oil sanctions against Italy,
but it is equally true that no deci-
sion has been made and-that it is
unlikely that the League powers will
use this form of coercion; they have
good excuse in the fact that the
attitude of the United States is not
likely to favor sanctions of this kind.
for they reason that if they themselves
agree to stop expectation of oil, the
embargo will be ridiculOusly inef-