Evening star., 1937-12-29


that the sinking of the Panay in the
Far Ea!S has focused attention on the
possibility of strained relations with
Japan, nevertheless as the world is
constituted today any outbreak of war
between Japan and other powers like
the United States would soon involve
the British and the French Navies,
which, together with the American
Fleet in the Pacific Ocean. would be
more than adequate to overbalance the
Japanese naval strength. q
Likewise in these days of naval
aviation. the Soviet Unions air force
Is something which would be brought
into action in the Far East should a
world war be begun. Taken altogether
there is no real need for more arma-
ment on the part of the United States
unless it be taken for granted that
America would have no allies in war
between America and Japan.
The very outspoken sentiment of
the American people on the subject of
the present Far Eastern situation
would seem to indicate that armament
building is not going to be received
as gesture of war but as a measure
OF domestic economics.
To build battleships means to use
steel and other raw materials in large
quantities. Today the steel industry
Is in the doldrums. Its operations are
way below even normal average.
Battleship construction means an i'm
petus to the steel industry Likewise
, there are other naval vessels to be
built. All this takes new machinery,
electrical equipment and various other
purchases.
"Shift to Preparedness"
It may be that the administration
will spend about $4,000 900 more on
the naval program than heretofore
The plan is to keep the expenditures
within the budget. In sense the
Roosevelt policy is to switch from
boondoggling and leaf-raking to the
construction Of warships so that the
country has at least something to show
for its expenditures, something by way
OF preparedness in world that is so
disturbed that anything might hap
pen. Even the pacifiSt groups will have
difficulty answering the argument that
the bigger the Navy the less chance
there Is for invasion Of our, sea coasts
by any foreign power. The tradi-
tional contention has been that when
armaments grow big the militaristic
temptation Is to use them in provoking
offensive wars. Most Americans will
not accept the view that any naval
group in America can force a war.
From . pump printing" stand
point, the increase in naval construc-
ton has some advantages over other
schemes because it does not involve
grants and subsidies to the States or
competition with private businesses or
services. 1t Is an expansion of the
Governments own business-national
defense.
Looked at broadly, however, the pro-
gram cannot be justified as sound
national policy. To build battleships
as a means Of printing The pump when
everybody who has been advising the
administration in recent weeks has
been insisting on a clarification Of tax
laws and the removal Of other restric-
tive measures is to postpone the ulti-
mate reorganization of our domestic
economy on sound basis. The Euro
pean countries have already gotten
themselves so involved in armament
building on such scale that If peace
could be assured there would be a COL
lapse of their respective economic
systems and considerable unemploy-
ment
The Hope for Confidence,
It may well be that in the Presi-
dents mind is the idea that something
has to be done to start an upward
curve OF the business chart and that
If steel starts up confidence will reap
pear in other lines. Maybe from a
psychological viewpoint the new pro-
gram of increased armament will find
defenders, but it does seem as if Mr..
Roosevelt has yielded to a makeshift.
for the time being at least, until he
can see whether 1888 will turn out to
be better or worse than has been an
ticipated.
Naturally the news of the lay-offs
IN the motor industry is not pleasant
reading here-and it has been duly
noted by the President himself-but
on the other hand William S. Knudsen
0 General Motors, who made the an
nouncement concerning diminution of