If the Government policy is bad from the point of
view noted above, it is even worse from the other we have named. They have chosen a policy which can only be described as that of egging Germany on to further efforts. We have in these columns never faltered from the position that the proper way to meet German competition is not to keep just ahead, and thus lure Germany to one more effort, but to set forth in bold characters a permanent policy. That policy, instead of inspiring the Germans with the feeling that by another sacrifice of money they will beat us, will rather depress them with the thought that they are only too likely to throw away millions upon their Navy, and yet get no nearer the result at which they are aiming—the command of the sea. What we want to do is not to call the Germans names or to bewail our own unhappy fate, but to keep the priceless thing we still possess—the lead in naval power. A grim determination to see the thing through, expressed by meeting every German bid by a big rise rather than a small one, is our policy, and the policy that will pay in the long run.
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