Evening star., 1941-01-17
Text of Knox Statement
Only British FIeet Can Give U. S. Time
To Prepare, Navy Secretary Warns

FOLLOWING Is the teTt OF Secre-
tdry OF the Many KnoI's state
ment on the leaSe-ienG bill before
the House Foreign Affairs Com
mittee.:
I presume I am called before you
because I am charged with the re-
sponsibility, as Secretary of the
Navy, of preparing our first line of
defense-the Navy-againSt what
ever dangers the future may hold.
1t is almost impossible to exagger-
ate the Importance of sea power to
our country and to our entire West
ern World. 1t has been because Of
the existence of sea power, exercised
by two nations, Great Britain and
ourselves, that both the Atlantic and
the Pacific have served as barriers
against the acquisitive designs OF
aggressive powers.
If you will glance at the map you
will readily observe that there are
but three exits into the Atlantic in
Europe. The channels Of the North
Sea (north of the British Isles, the
English Channel itself and the
Straits of Gibraltar.
Our entire Western World has
been safe from attack from Europe
because the British fleet has always
stood sentinel at these three exits
into the ocean, and British policy,
for many years, has accepted, and
assisted us in the maintenance of,
the Monroe Doctrine That has suf-
feed to make the Atlantic barrier
secure.
Struggle for Control of Sea.
The war in Europe must be looked
upon as the latest of long sue
cession of attempts by dictators to
establish rule over all Europe and,
eventually, to establish dominion
over a large portion of the world.
Like all its predecessors, the Nazi
regime has found that the power of
| its armies alone cannot establish
| that rule, because Europe is not
self-supporting in raw materials, and
the Nazi armies are poWerleSS to OBJ
tain these materials unless they have
control of the sea.
Great Britain has never been
powerful enough to support an army
strong enough to conquer Europe
and to hold it under control. That
nation has been enabled to survive
against conquest through control of
the seas between those islands and
the continent of Europe, and also
to stifle the expanding military pow
ers on the continent by denying
| them access to the sources of raw
materials.
The struggle now going on is.
fundamentally, an attempt by Ger
many to seize control of the sea
from Great Britain. That is the
reason why. from a military view
point, the war has so vital an in
terest to the United States.
Our Nation has evolved without
particular hindrance from Britain's
control of a large part of the sea.
But I believe it would be very diff
ferent were control to pass to Ger
many, and were she able to send her
armies into other parts of the world.
and there lay tribute of raw ma
terlals for further building up her
powers of oppression.
Hemisphere Safety Vital.
If Germany becomes free to move
across the ocean for the conquest
OF new territories, she most prob
ably will move first into South
America, to get hold of that great
Storehouse of national wealth. If
the United States does not wish to
lace the consequences of the estab-
hshment in South America of ag-
gressive military power, we should
now prevent Germany from over
turning the British seapower which
holds the Nazis in Europe.
For 1l8 years the Monroe Doc
trine has been the one national