Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-06-09
DEAR. DOCTOR


nEAR. DOCTOR -:
~ You did not note the limi-
tations In my columns. / did
not advocate armed violence,
but armed peace. I did not want
American conquest of the world
or the creation of an American
empire but only security
against the violence of others.
Yes. we have had, as you say,
for 5000 years in the interna-
tional order something approx
mating chaos and anarchy in
: varying degrees. but I do not
wish to preserve that.
I want to stop it by making
our own Christian country with
its ambitions limited to its own
shores, with no appetite for con-
quest nywhere else in the
world, a supremacy self-suffi-
cient military authority and a
powerful example for good. I
want armed Christianity and
armed Americanism as against
passive Christianity and weak
America.
We have trie d it your way
many times, and, as your letter
comedies, it never has worked.
Just trace the history of our eff
forts with Japan since the dis
armament conference of 1922,
and you will see precisely what
1 mean.
I CAME to Washington for that
L historic conference. 1t initi-
ated me as a reporter here. I
then held the same views as you,
even more strongly.
I was impressed deeply with
the sincerity of Charles Evans
Hughes, then secretary of state,
who set an example to the world
by scrapping our ships and thus
causing other nations to adopt
our policies of disarmament and
good fellowship. 1t seemed silly
for all of us foolishly to support
great fleets.
Now I know that what Japan
is doing to us was made possible
only by our leadership and love
for disarmament, which began
in that conference.
Japan acquired islands in the
p a fife under the Versailles
Treaty (Marshalls, Gilberts and
Mariannas) which were called
mandates" a term which as
sumessa facetiouSness now in
view of the use to which these
is ands have been put. She
promised not to fortify them,
but did. They are the air bases
and the sea bases which made
possible the Japanese program
of aggression, the fall of Singa-
pore and the Philippines and the
threatening of Australia.
WE GAVE more islands to her
w in our disarmament treaty
along with 3 to 5 ratio in
naval craft (they would have
three capital warships to our
five capital ships, as a gesture
of friendliness and good will to
inspire the bargain. Japan did
not then have three ships to our
five.
But under the promise she
made that we were all going TO
live peacefully thereafter. we
held our fleet at the index of
five. We stopped building while
she built up relationship of
3 TO 5 with us.
In other words, by our own
disarmament leadership, she held
our fleet static, so that she
could build up TO three-fifths of
what we had. When she ac-
i quired that ratio in a few years,
she then openly broke the
treaty.
4 / THINK you will agree il you
L look at this matter fairly that
our own disarmament policy is
at fault and is the root cause of
our present predicament in the
Far East, which has cost so
many lives and will cost so
many more.
If we had not stopped building
our navy for fifteen years, if we
J had not strapped ships while
others scrapped only blueprints,
c if we had not been lulled into a
false sense Of security and trust,
we would never have allowed
Japan the opportunity TO make
; her far eastern conflict possible.
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