National Affairs: Matching Game

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Last week Congressman Melvin J. Maas, of St. Paul, Minn., proposed that the U. S. Navy build 80,000-ton battleships — nearly twice the size of two mighty monsters now on the way. Horrified admirals paid attention to Mr. Maas only because: 1) he is the ranking Republican on the House Naval Affairs Committee; and 2) his remarks were symptomatic of a tendency on the part of Navy-minded Congressmen to dream for themselves.

Dreamy members of the House subcommittee which handles Naval appropriations asked the Navy Department to draw up estimates for 65,000-ton leviathans. Even these would be 30,000 tons bigger than the biggest now in the U. S. fleet, 23,900 tons bigger than Great Britain's Hood (biggest afloat), and would be too bulky to get through the Panama Canal. Said Sub-Committeeman Charles Albert Plumley of Northfield, Vt., thumbing his Yankee nose at the British: "I'm sick and tired of just match, match. This matching game is absurd. I want a winning team."