DISARMAMENT [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—May I be
allowed to welcome a statement attributed to President Coolidge to the effect that he is glad that France and England have agreed on the principles that are to govern naval disarmament but that the agreement does not affect anyone but themselves ?
Surely this statement with its implications brings us to the
realities of the naval position. It is the settled policy of England that under no provocation will we go to war with America ; for such a fratricidal war would be an unthinkable folly and a crime ; and it has been the settled policy of America ever since the publication of Washington's Farewell Address to abstain from all entanglement in European affairs.
Under these conditions the agreements made by European Powers do not affect America and as a corollary the Naval Programme of the United States should not enter into our calculations. They are the wealthiest nation in the world, and all Europe is in their debt. If, then, they consider that their dignity or their prestige requires the construction of
giant battleships and cruisers as part of the most powerful navy in the world that is no concern of ours. They have got the money, they have got the men and there is no reason why they should not have the ships.
But the impoverished nations of Europe are in a different case. They are suffering from burdens of debt and taxation that arc killing industry. England with increasing unemploy- ment and a soaring budget has neither the money nor the will to enter into a competition with America in ship building.
Surely, then, Europe can disarm without America and we may accept the statement of President Coolidge as a declaration of detachment, and a continuation of the policy that compelled Europe to make peace without America.—I am, Sir, &c.,
GRAHA Si BOWER.
Studwell Lodge, Droxford, Hants.
Previous page
