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Observer, Volume XL, Issue 25, 21 February 1920, Page 8

The determination of Mr. Josephus Daniels to take the place of William II in setting the pace in a newrace for naval armaments is a curious sequel to America's participation in European affairs. Mr. Daniels, as Secretary of the United States Navy, declares that failing the League of Nations—now apparently in the last

stages of strangulation in the American Senate—America must have "incomparably the greatest navy in the world." Mr. Daniels and his countrymen overlook the fact that while sea power is a luxury to a self-contained continental nation such as the United States, it is a matter of life and death to the British Empire scattered throughout the seven seas. No one but a madman would dream of invading or blockading and starving out the United States. Yet those are real dangers from which only her sea power has protected Britain. The "Scientific American" admits that after the surrender of the German Fleet the United States became not only the second naval Power, but she is equal in naval strength to the next three navies, those of Japan, France, and Italy combined. We suspect that the American people will find the maintenance of Mr. Daniels' " incomparable" navy oven more irksome than the obligations and responsibilities under the League of Nations at which they are now wrangling.—Wellington "Dominion."