Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-10-06
War Held Struggle
for Seq Control
BIZ OUen L. Scott.

apparent certainty that the United States
If left alone as result of events-is
not going to fight wars in two oceans at
the same time.
Out of that fact flows a conclusion
that unless Great Britain is able, with
or without American help, to keep Ger
many and Italy bottled up in Europe. the
United States will be forced to draw
away from the Far East The reason for
that conclusion is that the first Ameri-
can interests lie in the Atlantic, where
there is a Monroe Doctrine to enforce
and where the threat to those interests
would lie.
Chancellor Hitler and Premier Musso-
lini obviously think that they outsmarted
the United States when they signed their
military alliance with Japan.
Their reasoning is: The American peo-
pie and American Government will be-
come so concerned about japanese moves
in the far Pacific that they will be less
inclined to send to England the airplanes
and military supplies and naval aid that
England needs and is going to need in
increasing volume. The United States
will want to keep those supplies for use
in threatened war with Japan.
In that reasoning, Hitler and Mussolini
and the japanese forget one thing They
forget that so long as the British feet
exists, the Japanese are isolated and
highly vulnerable to economic pressure
imposed by the United States. Japan
lacks iron and oil and lumber and cotton
and technical ability and tools-all vital
TO any effective threat to the United
States. BY cutting off these supplies
from the United States and then by joint
British American action to close other
supply sources, this country and Britain
would rather easily deal with the Japa-
neSe
One group in the State Department
and in the military services thinks that
there should be no hesitation. Japan has
publicly disclosed herself as an enemy of
the United States. She has threatened
us with war That threat should be
recognized and answered in a lightning
manner. This group believes that the
japanese could be brought to terms IN
rather short order at the cost of no more
than a moderate amount of naval and air
action. Its members feel that it is folly
for the United States TO copy the old
British policy of hesitation and caution.
Another group-apparently prevailing
at the White HouSe-believes in contin-
ued caution. Its view is that nothing
should be done TO divert public attention
from the primary task of aiding Great
Britain. The reason is that so long as
the British Isles stand and the British
fleet guards the gateWays to the Atlantic
and the Indian Ocean. Japan can be no
more than a nuisance at worst.
The task is to bring Germany and
Italy TO terms. Once that is done. the
Japanese can be handled in spare time.
But if Great Britain should by any
chance, fall before the German attack.
then the United States Immediately
would be forced to make sacrifices in the
Pacific and it might be folly to be en-
gagged in war in that region.
The first group responds: 1t is obvious
that Hitler still is making hay with his
policy of dividing and conquering poten-
tial enemies in detail This is the time
to put the heat on Japan. If the British
go down the United States. i'll any event.
will confront enemies on two sides and
can do no more than recognize that fact
by action now.
This argument and todays events show
clearly for the first time what this war
is all about
War is being fought for control of the
worlds seas Great Britain and the
United States have dominated those seas
and the trade routes that traverse them
throughout the past century and more.
That domination has been maintained
by Britain through control of the gate
ways to the Atlantic in the North Sea,
the English Channel and at Gibraltar.
1t has been maintained by the British
through control of the gateway to the
Indian Ocean at the Suez Canal and al
the gateway to Mayalsia at Singapore.
The United States plays its part by
guarding the gateway between the At
lantic and Pacific Oceans at the Panama
Canal and by guarding the long reaches
of the Pacific from Hawaii and the
Philippines.
If anything should happen to the Brit
ish feet, the United States would auto
matically be forced to fall back upon
this hemisphere because of the impos-
sibility of policing the worlds seas with
the American Navy alone.
Thus the fate of England involves not
only the fate of the British Empire, but
of American world interests as well. 1t
is this fact that impels the United States
to do whatever it possibly can to prevent
defeat for the British and to sustain the
British fleet. The new factor that
threatens sea power as exercised by Brit
ain is air power, operating in the narrow
waters around England. The United
States, potentially, is the worlds greatest
air power If given time. this country
can supply the British with the means
of repelling German attacks and can, on
its own part take care of the japanese,
who are very weak in the air.
If Britain goes down, however this
country will be forced back into the iSo-
lation of this hemisphere.
The reason Is that primary American
obligations and interests are in this
hemisphere. It would not be possible to
maintain those interests against a threat
from the Atlantic side while carrying on
| war against Japan in the Pacific The