The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1937-07-30
Human Side
of News
By EduDin C.. Hill

fought for Gibraltar. There has
been a swirl Of blood as well as
sea water around the Pillars Of
Hercules. Gibraltar is to Eng
land the Empires symbol Of
strength and endurance. Re-
ports that the Germans, with
General frances aid, menace it
with recently installed guns on
Spanish territory brings an omi-
nous growl from the British lion.
In Parliament there is an
angry Interpolation of Leslie
Hore-Belisha, new war secretary.
The secretary evades a direct
answer. But night and day
there is clangor and glare in
England's great armament mills,
as she rushes through her ST.
500,O00,00O rearmament pro-
gram, the biggest single job Of
war preparation in all history.
British diplomacy, through
the crumbling Of the League of
Nations, the seizure of Man.
churia and Ethiopia, the failure
of sanctions, the German re-
armament and the Spanish
holocaust, has been cagey and
devious. But John Bull, out
unanswered, out-talked, bluffed
for the time, Enthusiastically
turns to direct action. He
makes ships, guns and air.
planes.
New Giant Guns
For Gibraltar
Many of these new giant
guns are for Gibraltar. There
are already so huge batteries,
many of them trained on Ceuta,
IA miles across the Strait where,
Parliament has been informed,
the Germans have planted their
16-inch Krupps and Pinch how.
itzers.
It is possible that TIore-Be-
liSha's reticence is to safeguard
military information, for it is a
fact that ever since the Italians
began buzzing around with their
deadly sea scooters with the
start of the Ethiopian foray.
England has been secretly inch
ing Gibraltar defenses up to
their maximum possibility.
The man in the street in Eng
land knows that this gateway
to the Mediterranean is the
front door of the British EN-
pire. The status quo of the Medi-
terranean is something that
just isn't open to argument.
Germany learned that in 1911.
England stood for a lot of sword
rattling and back talk by Kaiser
Wilhelm, until he sent a Ger
man cruiser to the small port
of Agadir, on the northern coast
of Morocco, within striking dis
lance of Morocco. In sporting
parlance, Britannia measured
the Kaiser for a one.two, with
out any more argument. At the
conference of AlgeciraS, he made
an elaborate reunuciation of all
claims to Agadir, then and in
the future.
For two reasons, the British
are aroused and watchful. One
is that the IA miles which sepa-
rate the jutting promontory of
Ceuta from Gibraltar is no
longer a safe distance, with the
range and Furnishing power of
modern guns; the other is the
possibility that the airplane has
shorn ancient Gibraltar of its
strength.
Lacks Adequate
Water Supply =
There have been in England
two schools of experts debating
these possibilities. One main
tains that Gibraltar still is i'm
pregnable; and the other that
big bombers could cripple its
guns and smash its fortification
without much difficulty. Vice
Admiral Cecil Vivian Osborne
has taken the latter view, insist.
ing they should trade the his
toric rock for Ceuta, and place
their dependence on navy oper.
ationS.
He noted a salient weakness
in the defense of Gibraltar-its
lack of an adequate water sup
ply, with dependence entirely on
rain water. It has withstood IA
Sieges, but the larger garrison Of
today would need more than the
L. LII ~