An American's Word to England "Why Does America Want a Larger N. " is the title of an article written for the "Landmark" (the magazine of the English-Speaking Union), by Mr. Edward Price Bell, the London correspondent of the "Chicago Daily News," who "says In the light of the World War—that mighty blaze which lit up so many things, material and moral—America saw herself as in a mirror. She saw herself weak. She saw herself as a sort of international charlatan. She saw herself with pretensions she could not vindicate. She saw herseli—huge, wealthy, unthinking, audacious—carrying on, Monroe Doctrine and all, in the lee of the British Fleet. Her self-satisfaction, her illusions, her goods, her national life—she saw herself holding the lot by sufferance.
We do not like to recall the fact that, in the greatest war ever fought for democracy, America did only about 3 per cent. of the naval work. We wish' we had been able to do SO per cent. What a relief that would have meant. We—not Britain—would have conveyed and convoyed our soldiers. Our destroyers and submarine chasers would have swarmed in the waters where Germany was prosecuting her submarine campaign to the very verge of victory. May the time never come again when America, in a deadly crisis of right and liberty, shall not be able to do her full duty!
We want a large Navy to add it to Britain's fleet, and to other liberty-loving fighting strength afloat, as an additional fortification of democracy and peace. Why should Britain be alarmed at seeing American ideals armed? Why should America be alarmed at seeing British ideals armed? Why should any nation that wants justice and order in the world be alarmed by a multiplication of the ships that stand for, and, if need be, wall fight for, these things?
'Now, is America going in for an "overwhelming Navy?" I think I can safely assure you it is not Our "overwhelming Navy' steams—is likely to steam—only in such wide waters as those of Mr. Josephus Daniel's oscillatory imagination. We want enough ships; we do not want too many. If we build a Navy as large as Britain's, I feel sure it is as much as we shall-do, and probably more than we shall do. Our General Naval Board wants big things. It wants, to start with, a lot of post-Jutland battleships. Well, between what our General Naval Board wants and what the American people finally consent to pay for there is apt to be a large gap in favour of economy and common sense, When we have a Navy corresponding, to our size, our situation, and our inherent moral commitments, then we shall be more than ready to join in any scaling down of armaments that commends itself to the judgement of the world.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.