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Show VANDERB1LT SEES CRISIS AHEAD Chairman of Defense Committee Commit-tee Urges Freedom of Public Speech by American Naval Officers. St Louis, March 3. Freedom of public speech by American naval officers of-ficers was urged by Cornelius Vander-bllt, Vander-bllt, chairman of New York City's committee on national defense, In an nddress here today before the National Nation-al Conforence of Mayors on defense. Tho nation faces a crisis, Mr. Vander-bllt Vander-bllt said, and the decision of the people, peo-ple, who, he declared, have a right to know what our naval officers are ablo to tell us, will detormlne "whether this nation shall bo preserved from external ex-ternal domination." lie said it was vital that the question of national defense de-fense should be "lifted above the plane of party politics." Mr. Vanderbllt favoring a return by tho United States to tho position as second naval power, attacked the policies poli-cies of "the few Impractical dreamers who3o hopes of disarmament have survived tho events of the war," a,nd pointed to the teachings of the late-Captain late-Captain Alfred T. Mahan that naval defense Is America's best reliance. In the plnnnlng of a navy, Mr. Vanderbllt Van-derbllt emphasized the development of the personnel. Naval Corps Too Small. Mr Vanderbllt said the corps of mpr!ean naval officers was much too -m-'l pnd not befo-e 1950 could th" "n't? ? Stn'-' qua' Germany In this . r v - f a'jnrt wre made t" . c.0-; no cott5 t ' a'ry In the numb . ' Tusf t th m nute. wltAn we nee4 j w poii-set vt naval officers to U?" s 'b- wh h'TB and whit suns ar ulred "Mr Vanderbllt continued these officers are forbidden to speak IT allowed to speak, thoy would doubt i less say that we need such a navy as will make a hostile Invasion of our soil Impossible, and that the numerical numeri-cal size of this navy must be determined determ-ined by a comparison with the fleets of other powers." Mr. Vanderbllt asserted that since tbe European war began, Great Britain Brit-ain has added to her navy one and one-half times as many units as comprise com-prise the entire American navy of today. to-day. "If our government would spend for naval purposes a sum equal to Great Britain's war expenditure for two weeks," he declared, "we would have the material of a navy sufficient to protect us from all chance of invasion." in-vasion." Responsibility for national defense rests upon Congress, Mr. Vanderbllt concluded. "Let us not fail to remember re-member on days of primaries and elections," elec-tions," he said, "how our representatives representa-tives have discharged their constitutional constitu-tional obligations to provide for the common defense." oo |