AMERICAN NAVAL INCREASES

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22371, 7 April 1938, Page 11

AMERICAN NAVAL INCREASES

Prospects of Stormy

Debate

SENATORS NEARLY COME

. TO BLOWS

(united PEESS ASSOCIATION—COmiOHT.)

(Received April 6, 9 p.m.)

WASHINGTON, April 5,

As a sample of the fireworks that may be expected during the naval increases debate, the Senate adjourned its discussion on the 490,000,000 dollars war debt appropriation to end a fracas between two Senators which threatened to develop into a fist fight. Senator K. McKellar (Democrat, Tennessee) took offence at statements made by Senator R. S. Copeland' (Democrat, New York), chairman of the military appropriations committee, supporting ‘increased coastal defences.

After repeated exchanges Senator McKellar leapt from his seat and dashed angrily across the floor towards Senator Copeland. Colleagues stepped between the two men and stopped trouble with difficulty. Admiral W. D. Leahy, Chief of Naval Operations, in a secret session, warned the Naval Committee that the United States must maintain a fleet powerful enough not only to crush any possible enemy, wherever he might be found, but to protect the country’s essential trade routes throughout the world. Admiral Leahy again defined the United States naval policy as designed to support the Monroe Doctrine, and to protect nationals abroad, American shipping, and American territory, including Island possessions, against invasion.