The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED THE Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 1940. AMERICA'S DEFENCES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 9, 11 January 1940, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED THE Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 1940. AMERICA'S DEFENCES.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For iho wrong that nerds resisime*. For ths futurr in ihi distance, 4*d*ho food thmtwo canto. ,

News that the United Statea Congress will be asked to provide no less a sum than 267,000,000 dollars (approximately £53,400,000) for expansion of defence forces may well cause wonder as to why this vast increase has been considered necessary. The President, Mr. Roosevelt, in his recent address to Congress, said no one expected that American troops would be sent to fight in European quarrels. On the other side, most likely enemy in theory, Japan, is immobilised in China. Two reasons for the decision of the United States present themselves. One is that the Presidential elections are drawing near, and, with Europe at war, no appeal to the people wonld be more -popular than that demanding stronger defences, provided it is represented that the increase is necessary to keep America out of war. The second is concerned with the measures which any nation must take to safeguard its own interests. Bound up with this second reason is America's endeavour to establish the 300-mile barrier of neutral water.

Some* consideration of America's defence needs will serve to explain her defence policy. She has to protect a vast length of coastline on the east and west, and reference to her own safety has compelled the inclusion of the Canadian seaboard as well. She is concerned also with the patrol of South American waters. Sea power, then, is vital. American experts agree that tho position on the Pacific side is much more favourable than in the Atlantie. The presence of the immensely strong base at Honolulu is of great importance in that regard. While the British Empire stands America is safe in the North Atlantic, so that there remains the South Atlantic to cause more immediate concern. Strategists consider that the potential danger lies in the Caribbean Sea, where there are many good harbours to serve as enemy bases. An attack from that direction would demand the shifting of the fleet from the Pacific to the Atlantic.. The maintenance of the neutttfl&jftters patrol will fall most heavily.) on the United States navy, because v between them the LatinAmerican republics have only 70 war ' vesica available. As time goes on the patrol of such a great coastline, not ' to' mention the area of water lying beyond, will necessitate use of more ships, the great bulk of which the UnitOd States will have to find— indeed, has expressed her willingness to flfid. These factors have doubtless been important in this decision for strengthening defences.

: v. ' ' ■ ■ WHY DO WE FIGHT? Mr. Chamberlain in his review of the war 'io date made reference to the nation's war aims, which have been the subject of much unofficial discussion in England in recent weeks. The discussion, it may be remarked, has. been promoted by the absence of large-scale air raids and of the long casualty lists which would inevitably follow the outbreak of heavy fighting on tho Western Front. If either or both of theiie had been apparent some of the airy schemes for post-war reconstruction would have been discussed (if they were printed at all) with much less patience and toleration than has been accorded them. It seems foolish —to use a mild word—to discuss at length the kind of peace you would like after a war which has hardly begun, i Moreover, it is frequently forgotten in English discussions that the French are also in this war, and that their war effort, on land, far exeeeds that of Britain. The French want permanent security against German aggression, and Britain should want no less. How is it to be obtained f It is easier to say how it will not be obtained. It will not be obtained by pressing very far the alleged distinction between Hitler, or the Nazi regime, and the German people. It will not be obtained by implying, as Mr. Chamberlain seemed to imply, that if the German people overthrow their present rulers ajl will be well. The men of Britain and France who are doing the fighting, or preparing for it, do not desire the "annihilation" of the German people; their chief aim, perhaps, is to ensure that they, or their sons, will not have to fight the German people (under some other leader) after another twenty years. And if, to ensure that, it becomes necessary for the Allies, after military victory, to take drastic and permanent ineusures to reduce Lhe power of the German people to make trouble again in Europe, those measures must be taken. It that be not our determination it ,would have been far easier, and cheaper in the short run, to k, coneede Hitler's demands and muiuUiin what we by courtesy described as peace.