Ambassador Dawes
Anderson, George E.
8 THE COMMONWEAL May 8, 1929 AMBASSADOR DA WES By GEORGE E. ANDERSON NO ONE even moderately acquainted with the...
...Naval establishments long ago passed the development needed for policing the seas...
...This would immediately precipitate the question underlying the whole situation, that of the freedom of the seas...
...On the other hand, other nations bound by the Washington treaties have acted up to the full limits fixed by these treaties...
...But the statesman from Evanston has long since lost the mere ambition to hold office, even in such company...
...The failure of the preliminary naval limitation conference at Geneva last year, a decided disappointment, was due mostly to the fact that the two nations were arguing upon the different premises here indicated...
...The renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy cannot of itself do away with the possibility of war, any more than the criminal law does away with crime...
...The strength of the American position at the Washington conference consisted largely in the fact that the American navy, as then authorized and in process of construction, was the strongest in the world...
...The real issue, the freedom of the seas in case of war involving Great Britain, was not openly considered...
...The clash of interests is unmistakable and the only question remaining is what the two nations are going to do about it...
...There is abundant evidence that they are entirely out of sympathy with them...
...Having conquered everything in American politics worth while except the Presidency itself, he has reached that aloofness in domestic and world affairs from which he can be moved only by the prospect of extraordinary service...
...For months a feeling has been growing that technical naval considerations are of less importance than the broader considerations of international statesmanship, and that it may be well for civilians to step in where experts have so signally failed to accomplish anything...
...It need not be thought that the people of the several nations concerned in this new naval race are in sympathy with their own naval authorities...
...These needs differ among the several nations, but in a final analysis depend upon the good faith of the peoples now party to the treaty renouncing war...
...Herein lies the possibility of great service on the part of the former Vice-President...
...Five envoys of the United States to London have become Presidents—John Adams, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren and James Buchanan...
...The inconsistency of the matter lies in the fact that, so long as the question of neutral rights on the seas in case of war remains unsettled, an agreement is impossible because the two nations are not looking at the same thing...
...Efforts to limit naval construction further have failed, and in spite of much progress toward peace in treaty arrangements, there has been a recrudescence of naval aggrandizement which has threatened the whole peace movement...
...The professed theory is that all this construction is needed for defense, for keeping open trade routes, for the protection of vital interests...
...The whole question is now at the point where a settlement is a matter of statesmanship rather than of technical adjustment...
...The practical considerations of treaties renouncing war, of agreements for cooperation in the maintenance of peace, of increasing means and methods of arbitration and conciliation and, above all, of the growing will of the people of the various nations for peace, are lost sight of in the contest for supremacy in theoretical situations...
...Admittedly the situation presents a difficult task for the new Ambassador...
...The people of Great Britain are demanding the same thing, and with these two peoples in agreement, further limitation of armaments will be realized...
...It must be admitted that, in these circumstances, there is occasion for serious consideration as to the state of defense of this country...
...Any man may well be attracted by the prospect of joining this brilliant group...
...The defense of the United Kingdom and its far-flung colonies from naval aggression requires more naval strength than the defense of any other country...
...Their naval construction has proceeded and further construction is now proposed which, while coming within the limits of the Washington conference agreements, constitute at least a threat against the neutral rights of the United States in case of war, if indeed not a direct threat to national safety...
...the people of both nations so regard it, and they would prevent its occurrence...
...in short, it is a recognized policy among the nations in certain contingencies...
...This attitude is reflected in the increasing disposition of many governmental authorities to question the soundness of the position assumed by the naval experts...
...it was followed for years in the suppression of the African slave trade...
...As its principal occasion for defense, the United States is arming to prevent the enforcement of such rules...
...The American position is that, while we propose to avoid war, we must be prepared to protect our interests in case it breaks out between other nations or in case it is otherwise forced upon us...
...Moreover it has come to be realized that there lies more in this matter than the mere question of whether Great Britain or the United States shall possess the greater number of cruisers, or of the size and armament of such cruisers as may be constructed...
...The international armament situation at the present time is such that further disarmament or further limitation of armaments probably can only be secured by a process of trading...
...An absolute prerequisite for the restriction of naval armaments among nations is the settlement of such an issue before it becomes involved in an actual clash of armaments...
...Are we to assume, therefore, that the United States navy is to be increased for use against Great Britain, or the British navy increased for use against the United States...
...There is about the whole thing an air of mystery which is responsible for much of the uneasiness displayed by all...
...The actual naval needs of the several nations concerned in this race for naval aggrandizement, if not supremacy, are really the critical phase of the entire matter...
...it is followed unhesitatingly in such international crises as the threat upon the international settlement at Shanghai a year or so ago...
...There is no question but that the failure of the United States to take advantage May 8, 1929 THE COMMONWEAL 9 of its position, as delimited by the limitation of armaments treaties, has placed this country in a situation where it does not possess at the present time the naval strength necessary to impose its will upon other nations in the matter of further limitation...
...It is the possibilities of such a situation which are behind the demand of the United States for an adequate number of cruisers of large steaming radius and comparatively heavy armament, based on few fueling stations, as opposed to the insistence of Great Britain upon a larger number of cruisers based on a large number of fueling stations, and more suited to the protection of its numerous trade routes...
...This issue lies directly between Great Britain and the United States, and is more a matter of diplomacy between them than a matter for the consideration of an international conference on naval limitations...
...The significance of the appointment of General Dawes as Ambassador to Great Britain at the present crisis lies in the fact that he has had exceptionally successful experience in adjusting complicated international interests in critical times, and the secret of his success, aside from the innate ability of the man, has been largely his downright sincerity and intellectual integrity in attacking the problems of international adjustment brought to him for solution...
...The people of the United States are demanding further limitation of armaments...
...A great diplomat once declared that the essential thing in diplomacy was to be able to perceive and appreciate the other man's view-point, and this has come to be the essential thing in matters of naval limitation...
...One calls to mind, with wistfulness, the "open covenants, openly arrived at," spoken of by Woodrow Wilson...
...8 THE COMMONWEAL May 8, 1929 AMBASSADOR DA WES By GEORGE E. ANDERSON NO ONE even moderately acquainted with the vigorous and picturesque personality of the Honorable Charles G. Dawes, former Vice-President of the United States, has the least idea that in accepting the appointment of Ambassador to the Court of Saint James's he has been attracted by the glamour of the position...
...The fact is that the naval authorities, the so-called naval experts, of all the leading naval powers have established a vicious circle which is leading to a recrudescence of armament out of all proportion to the real needs of any of the nations concerned...
...It is unreasonable to believe that the will for peace and for the reduction of armaments which is so evidently theirs will not be given consideration...
...A frank and truthful answer to this 10 THE COMMONWEAL May 8, 1929 question is not so easy as might at first appear...
...This tendency is met by defensive measures in the United States which further inflame European war susceptibilities, and the vicious circle is complete...
...It requires very little consideration of the whole subject to realize that the various peoples concerned in the armament situation are not being taken into the confidence of their leaders and advisers...
...but it was felt that with so much successfully accomplished in that conference, these problems could be left for another day...
...With these qualities dominant in the negotiations, two willing peoples need have no serious difficulty in arriving at an agreement...
...Since Europe has been steeped in war and doctrines of war for so many generations, and is not yet peace-conscious, the strongest tendency to increased armaments is to be found there...
...Nations concerned in the domination of the four seas realized that in the game of navy against navy for international supremacy they were already beaten, and that it was only by a limitation of international naval construction that they could hope to maintain even a parity with this country...
...Granted the defense premises of the naval experts their conclusions probably are sound enough...
...The natural conclusion is that, if large navies are not necessary for international policing and the preservation of international law and order in the common interest of all nations, they must be designed for use against each other...
...It was well understood at the close of the conference on limitation of naval armaments in Washington that there remained many phases of naval limitation yet to be disposed of...
...If need be, an international naval police force could readily care for such matters without difficulty, and without much trouble or expense to any nation...
...But war between Great Britain and another nation is quite possible, and in such an event Great Britain would need an adequate force of cruisers to protect its trade routes, its food supply, its very national life...
...Certainly no facts are known to the peoples of these nations which justify the constant disposition to increase armaments and invite the hostility and suspicion of other peoples...
...We need only go back to the early years of the world war to realize that what the United States must have under those circumstances is a naval force large enough to protect its neutral commerce...
...and if there is possibility of war, it is the business of the naval authorities of the United States to see to it that the United States is prepared to defend its legitimate and proper interests...
...In the long line of eminent American statesmen who have represented the vast American republic in Great Britain, moreover, have been men who embodied the best in American law, literature, finance and statesmanship...
...Piracy and robbery on the high seas no longer menace peaceful nations...
...But the same considerations apply to other nations...
...But there is a disposition to question the soundness of their premises...
...Great Britain, whose very life depends upon keeping the seas open to the commerce which supplies it with food and the necessities of life, especially deserves consideration...
...The British position is hardly so altruistic, perhaps not so naive, but is equally legitimate...
...and the failure of successive efforts toward such limitation in the past few years has been due to the fact that the United States has really had no concession to make...
...Since that time, however, developments have been rather adverse than otherwise...
...Any other policy is a confession of failure of statesmanship, of the uselessness of international agreements, of the lack of good faith among nations...
...The popular reaction in Great Britain and the United States over the failure of the limitation of armaments conference at Geneva is still reverberating in the halls of Congress and of Parliament...
...Probably war between Great Britain and the United States over a direct issue is impossible...
...That service lies in the adjustment and settlement of the only outstanding question of importance between the United States and Great Britain—naval limitation and general disarmament...
...This was done long ago as an international policy in the patrol of certain waters in China for the protection of international trade...
...Aside from or as a part of its national defense, Great Britain is arming to enforce certain rules in regard to neutral rights at sea in time of war...
...So far as actual and practical limitation of naval armaments is concerned, the authorization of the construction of fifteen new cruisers for the navy of the United States by the last Congress undoubtedly strengthens the hand of the new Ambassador, although under present circumstances it cannot be taken as a threat against any nation...
Vol. 10 • May 1929 • No. 1
