The British Government and many British journalists have known for
a long time, we imagine, the truth about Mr. Shearer's labours. Before the War he seems to have been known in London as a promoter of night clubs. Of course, Mr. Hoover is not blind to the tactical opportuneness for himself of Mr. Shearer's action. In one way he has been even too successful in concentrating attention on Mr. Shearer because the Naval Affairs Committee has decided to confine the investigation to Mr. Shearer's efforts at Geneva in 1927. The President, like Mr. Borah, would like a much wider inquiry embracing the charges of propaganda against the Navy itself, though he has been careful to exonerate well-known Admirals. Mr. Borah is convinced that Mr. Shearer was only one of a huge nest of propagandists, and that he was always acting for someone much more important than himself. The latest reports from Washington indicate that the essence of the naval puzzle has not changed since 1927. The American experts still object to a total British cruiser tonnage as large as the Admiralty requires for our trade routes, and the British experts point out that the proposed number of large American -cruisers would constitute a superior fighting force even though inferior in numerical strength.
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