AMERICAN NAVY

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 135, 4 March 1929, Page 11

AMERICAN NAVY

WHY PARITY WITH BRITAIN IS WANTED X v THE LESSONS OF THE PAST VIEWS OF LEADING UNITED STATES AUTHORITY (United Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) London, March 1. Mr. Frank Simonds,' foreign editor of the American “Review of Reviews,” who is one of America’s leading authorities on foreign affairs, in a letter in the “National Review” says: “The explanation of the American demand for naval parity is that the mass of Americans do not believe they have any responsibility in maintaining peace in Europe. They are further resolved that the next time Europe goes to war British naval power shall not make the United States a co-belligerent with Britain. American politicians are well-nigh unanimous that British sea power in 1812, 1861, and 1914-15 exercised a powerful and even a controlling influence to the detriment of American , interests. They calculate that if our fleet is equal to the British, any British Government will be compelled to refrain from interfering in what the Americans regard as their rights. Thus, while the American fleet is not being built against Britain in peace, it is very deliberately being built against Britain at war. The fleet is being built for the express purpose of abolishing the traditional British blockade. “It is a matter of supreme indifference to Americans whether the next European war is clothed in the moral authority of the League of Nations. We should see the League’s decisions as procured by the superior diplomatic skill of the nations. It is equally a mistake for an Englishman to think of the United States as an enemy or a friend. Rather, should it be regarded as a Power with a policy dictated by certain unmistakable material and psychological factors.”