Germany's New Navy What is important about the German naval
figures just disclosed is not the fact that Germany is proposing to equip herself with 25,000-ton battle cruisers—all that is well within the four corners of the recent naval agreement —but that vessels of this magnitude could be laid down in complete secrecy. There is, of course, a drastic censorship which has completely robbed the papers of any initiative or enterprise in news-getting, and there is no reason to believe that anything but preliminary steps in the con- struction of the vessels have been taken. But the incident demonstrates conclusively the need for effective international supervision of any disarmament agreement that may be concluded. As for the naval agreement itself, though it continues to be the object of bitter criticism on the Continent, it is more than ever obvious that the only alternative would have been unrestricted building on Germany's part. Even the prospect that Germany will soon have a fleet a third the size of Britain's is precipitating a naval race that must end for some nations at least in war or beggary or both. With Italy building two 85,000-ton battleships even the modest reduction to a 25,000 tons maximum proposed by this country is ruled out. But endeavours at limitation must continue in the hope that the prospect of bankruptcy or some sudden and unexpected return to sanity may after all enable an agree- ment to be reached before the deluge comes.
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