Show Sea Power ver Race Would Be Funny If Not So Grim By Dy BRUCE CATTON Whatever else you may say say aboul naval armament races you cant can't deny P thai tha they at least have a whimsical illogicality il 11 n. n logicality which if it were not potentially potentially poten polen so dangerous would be nothing less than delightful A brief survey of the situation asit as asit it affects the United States Japan anc and I Great Britain will show what we wc mean The United States government takes take S some to bring its fleet leat u up to treaty strength It does this a as S everyone knows because heretofore no effort has been made to attain treaty strength The country has voluntarily voluntarily vol vol- maintained a smaller navy than it is entitled to Consequently as any American naval expert will tell you the American Ameri Amen can fleet has suffered by comparison with those of at Great Britain and Japan Shipyards In those countries have not been Idle Their naval tayal strength has has' not been permitted to lag However the United States n no sooner begins to spend money on its Us navy than the authorities of England and Japan wake up and md announce that thai times are getting parlous English naval authorities announce that their cruiser strength will be hopelessly below below be be- low par as soon as the American program program program pro pro- gram is completed In sheer self defense they have got gol gotto ot otto to build more ships The adm admiralty ralty experts even cook up a new kind oj of ofa warship a ton sloop armed with six-inch six guns which wont won't come under treaty restrictions at all aU lAs tAs As with England so with Japan Obviously Ob the island empire cannot allow the United States fleet to get too big biga a margin of superiority In the most peaceable ceable manner imaginable they can cando cando cando do nothing else than put new keels heels on the ways If It they dont don't their national security will wm be threatened So we find the three greatest naval powers on earth beginning a good coed old fashioned armament race race from from the purest motives of self-defense self Each must spend millions upon millions mil mu- l lions ions of dollars on the tile race simply because because because be be- cause it is afraid of its neighbors Each one devoutly believes that one or both bothof bothof of ot its rivals are at fault Each is afraid that one one of the oth others rs may get an advantage advantage ad ad- vantage and then start a war If It it weren't so expensive and so dangerous it would be good for a fine laugh |