Honolulu, Sept, 15.
The Secretary of Navy, Colonel Frank Knox, warned the United States here yesterday that "force and force alone will give us safety and security."
Addressing the local Chamber of Commerce during his inspection tour in Hawaii, Colonel Knox declared there could be no safety "which does not provide for the safety and security of the entire western world."
Naval and air bases recently acquired by the United States from Britain in the Western Hemisphere, he said, have acquired "immense importance" in view of the developments in Europe.
Referring to the role of the American defence base in Hawaii, Colonel Knox said that "these islands play a great part in the defence of the whole western world."
He said that deterioration of the power to fight had led to the defeat of many nations in Europe.
"They have grown soft," he said. "Have we been caught early enough in a similar deterioration?"
Colonel Knox leaves here by plane today for San Diego where he will spend two days inspecting the naval establishment before returning to Washington.—United Press.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.