THE ARMAMENTS RACE
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] Sit, You suggest that the Prime Minister should make a public offer of conversations on armament limitation and it is rumoured that Herr Hitler has offered an air pact. I would submit that the armaments race cannot be stopped by agreement until there is some good evidence, and not only argument, to convince one of the contestants that the arms of the other are intended only for defence. An armaments race is caused by the piling up of weapons that can be used for attack, it is started by a threat, and it goes on because neither side believes the protestations of the other that the arming is for self-defence. The only way Hider could convince us now that his bombers do not threaten us would be for him to stop building the bombers, and the only way we could convince Hitler that his fears of a preventive war are groundless would be for us to stop building bombers.
We cannot open negotiations for peace because we are not strong enough to negotiate, but we could take steps to stop the armaments race without giving the impression that we are doubtful of winning the race. We could stop threatening Germany with bombers without in any way slowing down our preparations for war, and therefore without running any risk that our action might be taken as a sign of weakness.
My suggestion is that we should speed up and increase our war preparations at once and to the extreme limit of what is possible, but that we should concentrate, for a time at least, on purely defensive measures. We should stop threatening Hitler with bombers in the hope that Hitler would then stop threatening us. But we should build fighters and anti-aircraft guns in the largest possible numbers. Our object should be to make it impossible for Hitler to construe our rearmament as in any way a threat to Germany and therefore make it possible for him to come to a halt in the race. At the same time we should be making ourselves strong enough to propose peace terms. If Hitler did not respond we could very quickly switch the factories over to the manufacture of bombers. If Hitler did respond the armaments race would be stopped. If the armaments race could be stopped it would then be possible to negotiate a true settlement, one which could be followed by disarmament and the making of peace.—I am, Sir, Wetherby. R. L. KITCHING.
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