Show lb THE RACE F FOR OR ARMAMENT ENT secretary of the navy josephus daniels explained before the house committee com on naval affairs last wednesday that ho he considers tile the time highly opportune to como to an agreement regarding a general reduction of all navies and this his opinion Is no doubt one of the best he has uttered during tho the eight years ho he was at the helm ot of our navy nary department part ment 1 the idea has been entertained in the past that all a nation ald h ad to do to keep out of war was to pay down tile tho money for a very largo large army and navy there has been some sense in this idea and some nonsense if the united states had prepared for war with some military spirit in 1915 probably germany would not have sunk our ships by her submarines while germany persisted in arming for war other nations could not quit but blit now things are different the race of is like an auction people under excitement of competition get to bidding higher than they expected if tho the united states put up to beat japan this year then next year japan might put up to beat us ua then the united states would have to put up 1 to beat them it is easy to see sec every blodys finish it if on oil the other hand you could get several of the leading powers to agree not to build a single warship tor for five years everyone would be relatively just as well off and taxes would ile be greatly reduced proposals looking toward this end are being made by men of all parties they look good they would do a lot to straighten out the difficulties difficult iL s under which the world is now struggling the united states is the richest country on earth and it could beat out the others in this competitive race for armament but if it decides to try to got get tho the biggest army and navy in the world it will promote so much expenditure among other powers who are unwilling to be left bellind behind that the world will be bankrupt Is it worth the cost would the united states be any more secure after spending these vast sums of money thus encouraging other powers to play the same game why not all quit now by general agreement |