‘By L. Ervin Wright
have the right of free use of them. Any interference
with those rights in time of war is to be justified only
when neutral vessels are actually engaged in aiding
armed forces by carrying military supplies or when
there is an ‘effective’ blockade of an enemy coast.
“Britain holds that the seas between the homeland
and the imperial possessions are the roadways of
the empire, subject to the supervision of her navy,
and not to be used freely by those who might help an
enemy. Also that any measures taken by the
dominant fleet to weaken the enemy are justifiable,
including shutting off all supplies that neutrals
might take to the civilian population.
“Nobody has yet offered any formula to reconcile
those two principles; and the best that anyone has
proposed is some sort of compromise in the applica-
tion of them. None of these compromises has
worked satisfactorily, because in an emergency
each nation has insisted on its point of view. And
if the issue is now forced, we shall undoubtedly find
that neither will give in, for the simple reason that
these principles are rooted in national necessities
of trade and strategy as well as national feeling.”
IRRECONCILABLE POLICIES
N THE same article. Mr. Young states: “If a
show-down is brought about, we shall find we
have entered upon something that will require all
the resources of statesmanship to avert an open breach
between ourselves and the British. For our sea policy
takes direct issue with the policy that Britain has
pursued for centuries and has upheld at all cost
against all comers.”
It is a generally well-known fact that the boast of
Herbert Photos, Inc.
Hundreds of war tanks paraded in an inaugural procession
JULY, 1929
Great Britain has been for centuries, ‘*‘ Britannia rules
the waves.” In fact, the growth, prosperity, and
protection of the island empire have depended upon
the fact that Britain did rule the waves. Woefully
weak in her strategical and economic position,
Britain has felt that she must rule the waves. The
British Isles with a population of something like
50,000,000 souls largely depend on the colonies or
the outside world for food and raw materials. A
large navy has been maintained that the avenue to
and from the island empire to the colonies might be
guarded as a matter of safety, and that her trade,
the greatest industry of Britain and her life, might
not be jeopardized.
THE WAR OF TRADE
Al THE present time England’s trade is jeop-
ardized not by a war of guns but by a silent
war of trade. The trade of the United States today
is greater than that of Great Britain. When a
detective is called upon a murder case, he first
attempts to find out the motive for the murder,
for if he can ascertain the motive he can discover
the murderer. In the rivalry between Great Britain
and the United States there may be discovered a
motive beforehand for the murder of the dove of
peace.
Von Wiegand, before quoted, says: “Behind the
naval controversy is just one big factor — the world
markets. England is slipping. America is gaining.
“Those two facts are the real root of the bitterness
that crops out every now and then in clubs and in
newspapers over what they term ‘America’s naval
ambitions.’
“But it is the growing foreign trade of the United
States much more than the growing American navy
that is causing sleepless nights in London, Birming-
ham, Manchester, and other British industrial
centers. . . .
“Even in her own colonies and
dominions, British trade is decreas-
ing while the American is picking
up.”’
After giving specific figures in
proof of this, Mr. von Wiegand
then compares America’s trade
with the non-English world with
that of Great Britain. He says:
“America’s exports to Mexico
have climbed from the figure of 50
per cent to 70, while in the same
period Britain's share went back
from one seventh to one twelfth.
“In China’s total imports, Eng-
land’s share, exclusive of Hong-
kong, has fallen nearly 35 per cent
since 1913, while that of America
has increased 250 per cent.
“Up to the outbreak of the war,
England and American ran neck
and neck in (Continued on page 32)
PAGE SEVEN