Show I i IA I A New War Increase If New Arm Armaments I o oBy By THE HON J. J M. M KENWORTHY Formerly Assistant Chief of Staff Gibraltar War Staff london and labor M Member of Parliament It Ie something drastic is riot not accomplished to prevent pro pre vent the sent present competition in armaments a new war warIs i is ahead of the world as soon as a new generation unaware of oC the horrors and moral grows growl up degradation degrada- degrada tion of oC th the ye years rs 1914 to 1918 The are growling aro erY e Despite the th pla platitudes tudes uttered from thousands of pulpits and political Platforms platform an over the world there thero aro BC- BC t more soldiers under arms In Europe today than thanIn In the years before the war var yet every Inthe in inthe the late war on the continent o of Europe is In debt cleM and most of oC them unable to pay their way or ol their International obligations America BritaIn and Japan are all spending as much or more on their navies than th they y did before the tho war var A new naval race between England Amer- Amer fra and Japan is being run and the naval budgets will soon bo much greater in these three countries countries' than the they were before the war For the first fIrt time for tor years the senate I and fis at Washington quote the the British naval strength as an Ln argument for appropriations for buildIng building build build- ing of oC cruisers for th the American navy This will willbe he be answered In London In March when the tho British naval haval estimates are arc Introduced into parliament and andA A American speeches and and A merl meri an shipbuilding programs programs pro pro- grams vill b be quoted as a reason for naval pria tion by England Why do not the nations get together and stop this menace by agreement In 1919 the victorious allies at Washington Wash Wash- Ington to put into practice the beautiful theories of peace expounded by the Inte l resident Wilson In to m meet t the th clamour of the peoples for disarmament dis dis- armament there thele was Into the preamble of the treaties n. n liOUs re that all the armaments or of the signatory oty powers to be to the lowest poInt compatible with national safety This was actually forced upon Germany Austria Austria Aus- Aus tria Hungary and BulgarIa Hut But these resolutions Vere too vague to be put into force without further agreement b by the victorious powers Attempts were made at Geneva In 1923 and again In 1926 I ly the league of oC nations disarmament commission com coin mission to bring about a reduction of oC armaments by mutual consent No real progress has been made The Tho one great constructive and successful limitation by agreement wa was that of Washington in 1921 when 1921 when at the great convention of the tho fIve principal naval the powers United States England Japan France and Italy Italy- it was agreed to limit tIm the numbers of the great capital of war and to prevent a further building of these mastodons for a period of ten years Battleships Battle Battle- ships were limited battle cruisers were limited aero aero- carrying ships were limited But no limit was set to the number of cruisers By the time the cruiser question came under debate do- do I bate the politicians were weary The admirals were as fresh as paInt They fought hard for no limitations limitations limita- limita of cruisers at all But Dut when the politicians resisted them they made a pretense of compromisIng compromis- compromis Ing by limiting the size of oC the cruisers to tons This se seemed med little enough h after talking of ton battleships and ton aeroplane ear car So the tired politicians let Iet the admirals have their wa way They didn't know and the general pub pub- lie didn't know that no cruiser of this type had yet been projected in any of the navies But Dut this sIze at once became the new fashion in the worlds world's navies and all navies are now building them They cost each cach are so powerful and nd speedy as to outclass all other cruIsers already built Thus in Japan America France England and Ital Italy the nav naval l chiefs are demanding manding new brand fleets composed corn com posed of oC this type of cruIser already known mown as the Washington type England led lcd the tho way and started thIs race We Ve cannot blame the naval chiefs they were balked of battleships but they safeguarded their profession where cruisers were 1 We Ve could not expect bookmakers and jockeys assembled in confErence conference con con- fErence to abolish horse racing to be enthusiastic about their subject They would leave a loophole somewhere This is exactly what the admirals did didat didat at Washington The poor suffering inarticulate pUblic will pay par in dollars and if the rivalry Continues continues Con Con- will pay in blood and tears The Tho only way to it would be by means of a fresh conference to limit the building of oC cruisers on the same ratio as battleships Cop Copyright 1927 Cosmos Newspaper Syndicate Inc b |