Show GENERAL S JOHNSON 0 brawt MUZZLED BY NAVY A retired naval officer has been ordered by the navy department to cease giving lectures on the war an office on the retired list la Is in a peculiar status having been disabled in service he Is removed from active duty and not subject to orders in the usual sense he gets tor for life what looks like three quarters pay actually coun counting ling lost allowances it Is about halt half pay whether the navy department can legally muzzle him Is a doubtful question yet the navy shush shish up tome some retired officers who do not say acceptable things the outstanding case is smedley butler he has called his erstwhile marine employment the instrument of a racket the difference differences is that an obscure little lieutenant commander retired could be sunk without a trace while a double medal of honor major general super showman with a national reputation a picturesque pictures qua vocabulary and a voice like a foghorn old augur eye or old gim let nose or whatever old it is N ak A REAR TA his voice is being shushed shu shed by the navy nav be sunk at all without a splash that would raise the tides on all aln seven seas in times of peace I 1 cant see why there should be any shushing shu shing at all nine tenths of this military secrecy busi business nets is the bunk I 1 was glad to read of admiral Taus sigs test mony that the reason for the navys insistence on fortifying guam and increasing naval estimates at a cost of more than a billion is that weve got to fight japan for this purpose he wants to establish tab lishan an impregnable base in the philippines which Is not possible fortify the island of guam to make its capture impossible which is equally absurd and make an alliance with great britain france and the netherlands that will insure cooperation in the maintenance of the status quo in the area to the southward of formosa the navy attempt to shush admiral taussig lg it merely said that his opinion was his own and contrary to its views but the navy is asking for exactly what taussig is defending it concedes that it wants to fortify guam to stabilize the political situation in the far east admiral taussig was simply more explicit ile he wants to check japanese expansion in asia and malaysia which he says is under way at present with the subjugation of china the philippines netherlands indies french indochina indo china and malaya are to be taken over in due course of time russia is to be driven westward of lake baikal jt it is a fair interpretation of the krestof rest of the admirals testimony that we have to fight fichta a naval war with japan to prevent all this and must musi get ready now I 1 dont agree with admiral taussig it if we are to engage our strength and effort on distant and indefensible objectives halt half way across the world we shall be duck soup for enemies much closer to our shores we have hav etao no bone burled buried in asia but it is a wonderful thing to know that he be could speak and did speak his mind it is unfair to the arm army Y the navy and the country to tell them to prepare for war and not te tell the them m what war how when land and where what Is the foreign political military ind and naval policy of the united states that is our most important question it needs to be debated and explored and as to its iti military militar y and naval aspects professional military ml and naval men know the um I 1 lations tat ions for the present at least lets L a not shush any of them sen bennett dark clark grants wants to court martial admiral Tai taussig issig for say ing ng that naval preparedness plans are aimed at checking japan in asia and malaysia my esteemed columnar colleague raymond clapper writes the ibe function of the armed forces Is to carry out policy and not to make it this is per cent right we depend on military and naval officers to advise us as a to the preparedness measures we should I 1 take for the national safety or to ta maintain given policies 0 IL as but it mean a thing in our practices |