Show national affairs written lor for the park record toy by crank P since the geneva conference on the limitation of naval armaments commenced the british experts together with the british newspapers have been capitalizing great baital britaina Brit ains ns foreign trade and the need tor for kee keeping keeline pine open the english lines ot of communication I 1 rom the colonies and other parts ot of the world these british claims seem to have had some effect even on certain american newspapers 4 6 4 it is true ot of course that forel foreign agn commerce Is the life blood ot of gre great at britain and that she ehe needs a sizeable navy to protect pro act it but there Is no indication that great britain and the united states will ever go to war end and britain has no other serious na naval val riv rival a 1 it is a little difficult tor for the average american america n there tore to see any we should accept what would aim amount aunt to cruiser inferiority order to protect great britain against meri menace aLce which admittedly d does oes not i 0 40 40 in the meantime perhaps a we as individuals have not thought enough our own commerce and our own requirements tn in case dt 01 war but the american experts have forgotten saying something about the of our own commerce recently rear bear admiral jones declared aw aw aw excluding ing trade with the PhIllip pines i and that on the great lakes our aagre i gate domestic seaborne sea borne commerce Is close to cargo tons annum it Is surprising to know that this domestic ocean going trade ot of the united i states Is greater by fifty per cent than f the total foreign forella trade or of great britain the mocking blocking ot of the great trade lanes along our sea coast and those leading to the united states from over the seas we would uld unquestionably so dislocate the business ot of the entire country and bring I 1 such hard times upon us that it would mean practical industrial starvation on a scale beyond comparison 1 there Is undoubtedly a great deal in I 1 w what bat admiral jones has to say perhaps our foreign trade la is not so ro vital to us as great britaina Brit ains foreign trade Is to her but tt it should not be forgotten that we havo sr an ocean transported domestic trade which Is half ball again as great as En glands entire foreign trade and in case ot of war if our ships were driven oil the i ocean by a superior fleet we would woud bo be seriously embarrassed if not handicapped by lack of rubber and other materials which we get from abroad so that after all cruiser strength Is no more vital to great britain than to the united states aw aw nor will thinking americans be f tooled by the assertion that our government in insisting on cruisers of good tonnage and cruisers with eight inch guns are thinking offensively rather than defensively it if rr an eight inch gun Is an offensive sive instrument ment of war a six inch gun is not entirely offen offensive sivi with a number of small cruisers wits six inch guns equal to abose of the british uncle sam w would cold be seriously handicapped tor for several reasons 1 as I 1 in a the first pa place a ce tho the radi radius us ot of small cruisers ja 1 limited this makes no ino difference to john bull because he has naval bases all over the world fit at which small cruisers can be replenished W then again the establishment of a six inch gun limit would give the british a decided advantage according to our naval authorities for the british have a great fleet beet of merchant vessels which th they could equip with guns of this caliber baand and so in a short time in case of war have a fleet of arme armed it cruisers far outnumbering anything we ve could put on tho i seas uncle sam has a merchant fleet A e too and it is h hoped 0 ped by al ai good Anie americans rIcans that in due time it will be as large as the british fleet but that time timea is still distant and in the meantime we ought to be thankful thank lul that our annerl american c an naval experts are nonbeing not being misled as to the real situation of 0 course we dont 1 wont any more war and the way to avoid i it Is to have a fleet at least as good as tho best |