General Pershing's plea that the United States should sell 50 over-age destroyers to Great Britain has brought the matter of further aid to the latter fairly and squarely before the American public, for a man of the General's standing, his personal disinterestedness, experience and training, makes him someone who cannot be lightly ignored. The "Washington Star" expresses the hope that the Administration will not hesitate to submit to Congress a conerete proposal designed to carry out his recommendation. There can be n doubt that fifty destroyers would make a very useful addition indeed to the strength of the British Navy, for not only would there be the numerical addition on the one hand, but on the other it would liberate units of the British fleet for work which can only be undertaken by newer and swifter craft, It is declared that President Roosevelt is heartily in favour of the scheme, but feels that he should have the support of the Republicans, As indeed there is comparatively little difference between the Democratic and the Republican attitudes towards the questions arising out of the war, it should not be difficult to come to some agreement between the two parties which should enable the necessary legislation to pass through Congress with a minimum waste of time. Anything which goes to increase Britain's sea-power is to be welcomed at such a juncture as this. The experience gained during this war already clearly demonstrates that command of the seas is still a vital matter to any country at war, and the greater the force at Britain's disposal the more efficient can the blockade of practically the whole of Europe be made. What is of equal importance are the signs of the growing conviction in the United States that Britain is the one remaining bastion of democracy in Europe, and that the forces which threaten her, threaten also the United States. It has been a slow growth, but, probably, all the better for that, and so long as the United States are prepared to Britain with the materials to outlast Germatly, the result of the struggle will at no time be in doubt.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.