April 23.
In connection with British proposal to seek permission to purchase aeroplanes said number as many as one thousand in the! United States, the question has been asked why this should be necessary in view of the present success of Mr, Neville Chamberlain's policy directed towards the appeasement of Europe. On the face of it the situation does appear to be paradoxical, but on closer ex= amination the necessity for this step becomes apparent. The belated programme of rearmament has undoubtedly made great progress, but there have been signs that this has not been so rapid as it was originally thought it would be.. The. proposed scheme is for the purpose of speeding up the acquisition of the air strength considered necessary to afford adequate protection in the event of war, the possibility of which has not yet been removed. Probably the best way of looking at the matier is to regard the contemplated expenditure.in the United States in the nature of a capital investment immediately tending to bring Britain's air force up to the desired strength, after which the aeroplane factories in Great Britain itself may be depended upon for the purpose of maintaining that strength and adding to it at their own slower rate. The immediate acquisition of the necessary.means for adequate self-defence will add considerably to the growing authority of Great Britain's voice in the matter of world politics. That is heartily to be welcomed, for one of the reasons for the failure: of British foreign policy in the past has been the fact
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.