THE NAVAL CRISIS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 127, 21 February 1908, Page 11

THE NAVAL CRISIS.

."Unless the figures- (of .thcrexpandingGer-. . .maniJiayal: budget jA.&n ..rouse usVout'of-tho /henry.lethargy of- tho last wo are L ; of political :coma, .- •7.; (:ttnd.^6.i,shalh L BinfcT: : ms<!hMbiy- • into -.=nditipnal' v./deatjiV'A-JSuph.js.tlie. pronouncement.of a re- ' markable article in tho January-"Fortnightly Roviow,"j dealing with'the ncw(jormair naval- \ and its reception in England.- It , 7, callsKiiponj'tlip.jßritish "public . .which •carrics blind dcferico of foreign interests-, to tho .'point of pal- ; •' Atering'-with- the ifacts'-about'our- position-"at- -. sea." . • ■v 777 •'' : \yha.t' ! is;;iinpMding'::for-England isj"'-.it/dc- ' lea, than ajfiriancial fight : £or life.'f.:.:,;;v |"V "It is .certain .that. be- . beforei the end-of-another dec'atle it will- cost us ' at- least, fifty, millions to /support the two-. Power, standard. :It is certain that this coun- . ffjj .enly. retain .tho..commahd ; bf ; tho' scat - - v . . S! n S' w 'th : : inflexiblq:'.tenacity arid* in 'a. spirit of Japanesp.sacrificfe. "the sternest effort J"M 'W, nation/was''over : called'.upon to make mnintafniiig'- tho supremacy.pf the-scas, which is tho vital condition • of our existence. . - r "A . iiew question is already arising far -:- more momentous and -.disquieting in:- its cha- - raet-er. than' Any ivobavo had to confront i B ' ne PJb<) Napoleonic, wars; The pressure of . the cost of peace is about to become as re- • morseless as tho strain of war." t Tho. real competition m naval armaments is only-no* beginning. "There is no question that Germa'ny. iri a-very few ypars will 'b6 spending, a?,.much upon. her. fleet:-as ! we are ' spending^- noyr-• Germany has' a continuous and far-sighted executive " C!erB\an opinion -.iSjawako. -to the transcendent importance of .a great navy. '."Contrast this .. with ,tho presentfstato 7 of.'our public, ;opinion upofl Imperial problems and. questions of deWhen wo compare' the" two sides of tho JNortlv Sea, and extend, our view to tho ac- . cos 3, o* naval enthusiasm "which has rocentlv been, . making tho Amoricah'.' Press deliri°us, wo/must conclude' that. Eiu'land has nover knpwn a moro perilous hour of national jnertia.!.'. : .. -~ . , -/. : n Tho-'articlerthen - proceeds .to shotv that . \ ; UGrmany:j]r6a ainplc taxabl© capacity to sun- • P. ® iSreat fleet. It demands that the British Lstimates shall bo hcnceforth twice the •. we.are now following;" it SMji-.r. • isjtfip weakest imaginable; since" it leaves thei-,-German people under the impression thit7^ith-sufficient persistency they will gain their ehd. ' "By , comparison with tho financial fight for life which unavoidable, every, other 01 our/oolitic* sink* inta hrivialitv.' 5