Manawatu Evening Standard. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 1929 THE MENACE OF WAR.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 111, 10 April 1929, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 1929 THE MENACE OF WAR.

War between Britain and America, it lias been repeatedly said, is “unthinkable.” An eminent British divine in the person of the itev. it. J. Campbell, an author and thinker ot considerable repute, who has lately returned to England from an extended tour of the United States, during which he came into contact.witn all classes of Americans, is of a contrary opinion. The sacrifices Britain made in the interests of democratic peoples, of whom Americans claim to be the chief, are either unrecognised or largely .forgotten. Mr Campbell found a cold, unfriendly feeling towards the British, coupled with an attitude of suspicion of British good faith verging almost on hatred, in view of which he urges the necessity for conciliatory action on the part of the British authorities. Anti-British feeling is certainly strong in the Middle NorthWest States of America where German and Irish Americans and other foreign born populations predominate, and despite the friendly attitude of the American Ambassador in London, and the good feeling displayed towards Sir Esrne Howard, the British Ambassador at Washington, the Presidential utterances of Mr Coolidge and other public men on the disarmament and naval parity questions have been calculated to strengthen the semi-hostile feelings entertained by a very considerable section of the American people towards Great Britain, the Kellogg Pact notwithstanding. With aill her talk about disarmament America is spending to-day more than 100 per cent., in excess of her expenditure upon armaments in 1914. Against whom? Her treatment of Britain and British interests is suggestive, as witness the American Note on Antarctica, the purport of which has been sufficiently indicated in our cabled messages although its precise details are at present, undisclosed. The “Almighty Dollar” is, of course, at the back of the Note, which seems to threaten Britain’s control of the Falkland Islands and our own control of the Koss Sea Dependency. The Byrd Expedition seems to

liave afforded the opportunity or excuse for the Note, asserting American claims to what have hitherto been regarded as British possessions, the 1926 Imperial Conference’s declaration of the Ross Sea and the Falkland dependency as Imperial concerns being also called into question. The potential wealth of the Antarctic Sea, as disclosed by the whaling trade, and the discovery of large deposits of minerals in various parts of Antarctica have made these possessions more valuable, and America unquestionably looks for some return from the Byrd Expedition, hence her claims. THE DESIRE FOR PEACE. What Britain and the British Empire desire most to-day is peace, but there is the ever present danger of war. Mr Hilaire Belloc, in a recent article, urges that “peace is a sheer necessity to Great Britain,” but he says “the defensive to-day is so strong, and the damage which the more powerful may suffer in / attacking the less powerful is so great, that we are morally certain of keeping the peace, save where one side feels certain of easy success. it is not (he continues) a question of whether the people wiio feel certain of success are right or wrong, it is a question whether they believe themselves to be certain of success,” in which case “they are prepared to undertake an adventure , which, under the modern menace of the mine, the aeroplane, gas, the bomb, etc., they would never undertake.” Something in the nature of this course of reasoning may be at the root of the antiBritish sentiment of those Americans who are insisting that the United States should possess the most powerful navy in the world and become its virtual .dictator. Her air power is far greater than the British, and it is stated on reliable authority that “American sea power, as represented by ships and men, is increasing practically at the same rate as British seapower is declining.” Instead of Britain being looked upon as her ally, America apparently prefers to regard her as a potential enemy and seems determined to assert her supremacy in every respect —-naval, aerial, military, financial and commercial—altnough, so far as international finance is concerned, London remains the world’s ciiief market and ceutre. The feeling discerned by Mr Campbell during his American tour may sooner or later force the United States into provocative action, in ivhich British interests will suffer, as they have already suffered under the limitations of the Washington Treaty, which was responsible for the scrapping of so many British warships, including the Australia and New Zealand, to bring about parity in the British and American navies. The real danger, however, lies in the manner in which America presses her claims upon Britain. There is nothing Britain desires so ardently as .peace, for she is in a far worse position to defend her shores to-day than she was in 1914, and America is largely responsible for both that and her economic position.