1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435363738394041424344454647484950515253545556

He had the highest :hopes of, the coming Naval Con-

ference, The prospects for a permanent peace were " never brighter." Nevertheless, he was deeply concerned at *Ite475fiving_ expense of American national defence. The expenditure had risen from £53,400,000 in 1914 to £146,000,000 this year, and these figures excluded all the civilian services of the Departments. " The total," he said bluntly, " is`higher than that of the most highly militarized nations of the world." If the Naval Conference should fail, and the authorized . naval programmes of the United States had to be fulfilled, the United States would be committed during the next six years to an expenditure on construction alone of more than £240,000,000. * * *

Next page