Mr. Hoover's Critics President Hoover, having internationally to defend his
country against critics who think the American Navy too large, finds it necessary nationally to defend it against critics who think it too small. In his controversy with Mr. W. H. Gardner, President of the Navy League, who complained that the navy was being starved, and supported his allegations with figures, Mr. Hoover has acted with unusual vigour, appointing a committee forthwith to investigate the charges, .with the result that they have been exploded in every detail, and thereupon demanding (so far fruitlessly) a full retraction and apology. The pendulum is almost bound to swing one way or the other, and in the process of smashing Mr. Gardner it has been necessary to advertise the fact that the United States has at present more treaty tonnage under con- struction than any other nation. There is one saving word here. All of it is treaty tonnage, foreshadowed and readily assented to by the rest of the world when the London Naval Treaty was signed in 1930. Nothing in the American programme will cause disturbance of mind outside America.
Previous page
