The Guardian AND EVENING STAR, With which is incorporated “The West Coast Times.” FRIDAY, JULY 29th, 1921. PACIFIC SEA POWER.

Hokitika Guardian, 29 July 1921, Page 2

The Guardian AND EVENING STAR, With which is incorporated “The West Coast Times.” FRIDAY, JULY 29th, 1921. PACIFIC SEA POWER.

In the preface to '“Sea Power in the Pacific,” Mr Hector C. Bywater remarks that both in Japan and the United States there are people who sincerely believe that war is the only solvent of the differences which have grown up between' the two nations during the last 20 years, and a section of the Press in either country has lately indulged in language suggestive of a, common desire to apply this drastic remedy without further delay. 'Those who hold sui'h views, whether they he American or Japanese, will receive no encouragement from Air Bywater’s book. On the contrary, they will learn that the war to which they profess to look forward ‘.‘without anxiety, and even with enthusiasm, would bo a terrible and protracted struggle, so full of novel elements and uncertainties that those who have studied the matter most carefully are least disposed to predict the ultimate issue.” A conflict in the Pacific would have features for which the history of naval warfare offers absolutely no precedent, and which should cause the most bellicose and self confident Power to shrink from the ordeal by battle. Mr Bywater’s detached analysis of the strategical situation in the Pacific, and of the: various factors which would enter into a war in that ocean, is the strongest argument for peace that could be conceived. He begins by reminding us how definitely the strategical centre of gravity has shifted to tlie Pacific. The European nations have called a halt in naval construction ; Japan and the United States alone continue to build. In 1916 Japan’s apologia for her new programme .was published in a semi-official journal, ?< Tp impute aggressive motives to

us is unjust Our Heel is not a sword, but a shield. No State in the world, with the exception ol Britain, is so dependent ns Juptui upon the strength of Iter navy, and every argument that ilie British use to justify the preservation of their naval supremacy applies with midiininishod weight, to the case m Japan. As an island Umpire our frontiers are the sea. and ii we cannot defend them we shall assuredly become the prey of foreign enemies.’’ That an island Power has a right to maintain a strong fleet may he admitted. But there is the danger that a defensive weapon may he used offensively to anticipate some real or imaginary menace. At present America is, and must for some time comparatively weak in the East. She has her Pacific fleet, it is true, but this is thousands of miles it way from the scene where the lirst actions would lie fought. Moreover in its far Eastern waters she has no docks, no liases with adequate fortifications. I let Asiatic squadron is composed of obsolescent ships, none of which is pow_ orful enough enough to tight or fast ciough U< escape from a battle cruise!. The destruction of the entire squadron “would not improbably prove to be ■me of the lirst. events of a war with Japan.’’ These considerations luigliL tempt a chauvinistic government to strike in the hope oi avoiding a competition in armaments in which Japan must In tlic long run inevitably . be beateh. Mr Bvwater briefly reviews the questions at issue between the two nations. First and foremost is the anti-Japanese discrimination in the Western States of Amerca. With regal’d to this lie thinks that the ethical arguments which enter into the controversy are so equally balanced that it is extremely difficult to arrive at any equitable decision. “What amount of persuasion is going to convince intellii gent Japanese that it is morally wrong for them to use force to attain that w hich principle and custom teach them to regard as right?” And, on the other hand, “what argument can he advanced which is at all likely to move the inhabitants of California to admit that, their view of property rights by which they exclude the Asiatics is unjust?” After all the Japanese themselves discriminate against foreigners. Again there is the question of China. “The policy of Japan during the past twenty years or more lias strengthened the suspicion,' - even among her friends that its true aim is to gain such a complete hold over China that no other Power shall have voice or part in shaping the destiny or exploiting the resources of that country.” The famous twenty-one demands issued to helpless China when Europe was preoccupied with the Great War were a clear enough indication of Japan’s designs. The pretensions of Japan in China would affect all the Powers; America has made it abundantly plain that she, at least would not rest content with verbal remonstrance. Again, apart from these sources of 'friction, the social and economic conditions of Japan provides some incentive for war. During the last few years there has been a. slump in Japanese industry; unemployment and destitution' are very prevalent, Bolshevism is making headway. Mr Bvwater thinks that it is by no means impossible that the real rulers of Japan might see in war an exped_ ieiit for stemming the rising tide of rein'll ion and anarchy. Patriotism is still a virtue in Japan, and there is little doubt that all the best elements of the nation would support a policy of war if they believed the alternative to be social chaos. Mr Bywater’s summary of the various factors which play into the hands of the war party is interesting. The sensitive national pride lias been hurt by the discrimination in California. Bitterness lias been intensified by the attitude of America towards Japanese expansion in China.. The cry is that Japan, coni|K*lled by overcrowding at home to seek new outlets on the mainland, is thwarted at every turn by America, the only obstacle that stands between her and control of Eastern Asia, with i(s illimitable wealth. “But is this colossus df the West as formidable as it is assumed to he? Has it, really the power to support its pretensions? The Japanese are .inclined to answer in the negative. They have seen the Pacific all Imt denuded of American warships. They have observed with amazement, the omission of Japan to fortify her outposts in the Pacific, and to make adequate provision for the maintenneo of a, iloet in the western area, of that ocean. They have come to look upon the defenceless Philippines as theirs for the taking. Tt is true that a powerful American fleet has recently appeared in the Pacific, hut without, defended bases in the west, it remains practically tiedi to its own coast. Pursuing this train of thought the Japanese may well ask themselves what they would have, to fear in a war with the United States, whether B would not lie bettor to settle once and i for all a dispute which can never he satisfactorily accommodated by peaceful means.”