Evening star., 1938-11-27

would be our principal war source OF sup
ply. Chile Is our chief source Of supply
of nitrates. There are, In all, some 81
strategic" materials which would have
to be obtained almost entirely from
abroad in wartime, and 81 other mate
rials which are listed by the War Depart
ment as Critical"
Continental defense, as envisioned by
the President, therefore, not only would
further our protection of our Achilles
heel" the Panama Canal. but would 90
far to insure our supply of indispensable
war materials from foreign sources. In
fact. it is impossible to visualize an ade-
quate protection of the canal and OF our
war commerce routes which would not
entail thorough defense of the entire
Caribbean area, the West Indies and
Northern South America, as well as the
Pacific Coast, including potential enemy
bases as far distant as the Galapagos
Islands.
All this is from the standpoint of purely
negative" defense-the denying to an
enemy of the ability to strike our shores,
CliC Sdl1d1 VI VIC AAOAS SooSAAoA0H
of our vital supplies OF war materials.
In defending this essential territory In
war, however, the United States cannot
be content with the mere assumption OF
an attitude of passive defense-the pro-
vision of simply enough force to beat of
an attack at one point or another.
I'm such case" Admiral William D.
Leahy. chief of naval operations, has re-
ported to Congress, I'VE would see our
coasts blockaded, our outlying possess
Sions seized, our commerce, both coast
wise and foreign, driven off the seas and
we would undergo the costly experience
of finding the war lasting just as long as
the enemy willed it-that is, until he had
attained every objective and everything
he wanted. The only way that war, once
begun, can be brought to successful
conclusion is by making the enemy want
to stop fighting-by injuring him SO
badly that he is ready to quit. Prompt
and effective ahdl abr dlahrdl al adarf
distance from our shores is the only cor
rect strategy to be employed"
Backing the Monroe Doctrine.
Nothing stands in the way of possible
exploitation or seizure of the republics OF
Central and South America except the
Monroe Doctrine, backed by such naval
forces as the United States may have
and the use Of that force if the neces-
sity should arise" Admiral Leahy said.
The key to the defense of the Panama
Canal. in naval opinion, therefore is
control of the Caribbean, and this necessi-
tates control of the West Indies and of
the surrounding shoreline of both
North and South America. In the Pa
cific, similarly, Hawaii is the key to the
defense not only of the Pacific coastline
of the United States but of the Panama
Canal Our safety in the Atlantic and
the Pacific is the measure of the ability
of our feet to control the sea routes by
which an enemy might threaten our
shores and our essential communications.
In new book which is having con-
siderable influence in defense affairs to-
day. Maj. George Fielding Eliot, for
merly of the Military Intelligence Re-
serve, points out that since our feet is
inadequate to protect both our ocean
frontiers and must be able to move from
one to the other quickly, the security of
the route it must follow lis the keystone
of our defense plan" This route, he
points out, is the Panama Canal, supple
mented perhaps at some future date by
an additional canal in Nicaragua.
Maintenance of control of the Car
ibbean into which both canals debouch,
is vital to the United States and the
Caribbean becomes, in effect, an Amer
ican Mediterranean" which must be
kept inviclable. Our naval frontier to
the east, therefore, extends not alone
down our Atlantic seaboard, but along
the outer fringe of the West Indies, with
Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands as
its eastern outpost. It would be of great
advantage to this country, Maj. Eliot
points out, to have base at the south
ern end of the Lesser Antilles, at Trini-
dad or Barbados. Were we thus en-
placed, he said, we could, even in the
absence of our fleet, make it extremely
hazardous for any enemy fleet to try to
enter the Caribbean.
The western and southern shores of
the Caribbean and its two principal
islands are under the sovereignty of II
different Latin American nations.
Nevertheless, this area is assuredly "the
strategical key" to our two chief sea
frontiers, Maj. Eliot declares, and within
it "our country can tolerate no foreign
sea intrusion" For the United States
to be deprived of the use of the sea great
hardships would be imposed upon our
people and the result would in the end
be disastrous, he argues.
United States Responsibilities.
"The United States" he says, has no
world-girdling colonial empire; yet it
does possess outlying positions. the safe
keeping of one of which Che Panama
Canal zone) is absolutely vital to its mill
tary security, and of certain of the others
scarcely less than that. Moreover, it has
interest and responsibilities in connec-
ton with its sister republics of Latin
America which (while disclaiming all
political control therein) are still essen
tial to its interests and safety, and can
be adequately maintained only by sea-
power"
Our attitude toward current world de-
velopments. Maj. Eliot says, ought to
be conditioned by an element of respon-