the pre-war megalomania of the present Squire of Doorn look paltry, these professional minimizers are prompt to suggest that the facts are different from what they seem, that "the whole thing is mere eyewash and "an electioneering stunt" that will be dropped after the Republicans register another victory next November. We don't for a moment doubt that it is "electioneering." All American politics are electioneering this year as in most other years, and this naval agitation is deemed first-rate electioneering because the American elector is keen on building a mighty fleet which he feels he can easily afford-all the more as the annual British tribute covers the cost. The Americans are welcome to build any ships they please. There are only two things we resent in this development, (1) the rubbish habitually cabled over from New York, which we should characterize as mendacious did we not know it to be ignorance; (2) the campaign of misrepresentation against Great Britain, by which President Coolidge allows his egregious Secretary of the Navy (Mr. Wilbur) to excite the masses. Instead of falsifying the facts concerning the Geneva Conference, why can't the Americans get on with their navy and have done with it? Mr. Coolidge wants 25 10,000-ton cruisers. Why he doesn't demand 50 is almost the only feature of his policy we can't understand. America in the Air WE welcome the action of the United States Government in the direction we ventured to indicate some months ago. It seemed to us that considering their wealth, their prosperity, the size of their country, and its wonderful climate, the Americans were not yet" doing their bit " as regards the air. They can afford so much better than other countries to embark on gigantic aerial operations and test the actual rôle of aviation in future warfare as to which there is some conflict of opinion between enthusiasts who regard Armies and Navies as "back numbers," and sceptics who regard the enthusiasts as megalomaniacs. Washington Politicians are confronted by the ticklish problem of having to propitiate rabid Pacifists who see red at any mention of war, and rabid Jingoes who can think and dream of little else. The former are mollified by such episodes as Colonel Lindbergh's "good will flights" over adjoining countries on the American Continent. The latter are placated by the construction of mighty armaments. The United States require a colossal Air Force to correspond with President Coolidge's Armada. It will, however, be more than helpful to other nations, notably Great Britain, as we shall be able to profit by American experience, and learn to avoid any blunders they may make. According to the "aviation correspondent" of the Daily Telegraph (February 20th) the United States Naval Air Service is establishing a grandiose base at Los Angeles in California, where millions are to be poured out like water. When this base is properly equipped it will consist of "400 aircraft (including 240 reserve). "The carriers, Saratoga and Lexicon, each of 33,000 tons, and each carrying eighty-four 'planes and fortytwo in reserve. "The tenders Aroostook and Gannet, which will carry twelve big Douglas bombing and reconnaissance aeroplanes now being built. "The carrier Langley, with thirty 'planes. "Six destroyers as carrier escort." There is no trouble here about that " parity" which has upset the nerves of Washington in another connection. As compared with the miserable 150 aircraft attached to the British Fleet, rising to 200 by 1931, the Americans hope to have about 340 by the latter date. When they have reached this stage all that will remain will be selection of a suitable objective. The Unknown THERE was one outstanding domestic event during the past. month that is predestined to bear far-reaching consequences and to loom larger and larger with the lapse of time. It shows that, despite much evidence to the contrary, imagination is not yet extinct. in the City of London, and that the flame of patriotism and self-sacrifice still burns brightly where it is least expected. There had been rumours of an interesting development, and Parliament was induced last Session to prepare the way for it, but until the actual announcement of the Chancellor of the Exchequer on February 6th we were left guessing as to what was in the wind. The official statement was as follows: "The nation has just received a benefaction of a character hitherto exceptional in the relations between the State and its citizens. Within the last few days an anonymous donor has set aside the sum of £500,000 to be managed in trust for the nation. "The capital is to accumulate at compound interest over a long period of years. Ultimately, with all its accrued proceeds swelling progressively with the passage of time, it is to be applied to the reduction of the National Debt. "In order to facilitate this gift, Parliament was invited last session to make an exception to the law forbidding perpetuities and to declare long accumulations lawful when they had this especial object in view. "The Chancellor of the Exchequer desires to acknowledge publicly the gratitude of his Majesty's Government for this important gift, unprecedented in its character. He regrets that he cannot thank the donor by name. It is the donor's hope that others may from time to time be prompted to add to the fund which he has inaugurated, or on similar lines to set up funds of their own. "The Chancellor of the Exchequer states that action of this kind is inspired by clear-sighted patriotism, and makes a practical contribution towards the ultimatethough yet distant-extinction of the public debt." This statement was accompanied by the following letter: "8, BISHOPSGATE, LONDON, E.C. 2. January 26, 1928. "THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER, "Treasury, Whitehall, S.W. 1. "SIR,-We have the honour to inform you that we have received from a correspondent, whose name we are not authorized to disclose, but from whose letter we are allowed to quote, the cash and securities to which reference is made below. Our correspondent writes: "Gifts to the nation of historic sites, buildings, and works of art are happily frequent; gifts to repay debt comparatively rare, this last being a dull objective, but bringing with its accomplishment certain comforts of its own. To repay the National Debt may be thought to be beyond the reach of individual effort, but as a beginning towards this end I am placing at your disposal, as trustees for the nation, some £500,000 as the nucleus of a fund to accumulate in your hands, and to be applied eventually to this object. "I am entrusting this fund to your House, in order to secure the benefit of your long experience in finance, and in the hope that others may from time to time be prompted to add to it, or on similar lines to set up funds of their own, citizens and City uniting in an attempt to free their country from debt.' "We shall be glad to know that our acceptance of the trust meets with the approval of His Majesty's Government.-We have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servants, "For Baring Brothers and Co., Ltd., (Signed) "REVELSTOKE, Director." This was not the first gift that had been made towards the reduction of the National Debt. Mr. Stanley Baldwin when Financial Secretary of the Treasury anonymously surrendered a very substantial proportion of his whole fortune-the munificent figure of £150,000-as only transpired subsequently by accident, for that patriotic purpose, and altogether, in sums great and small, about £1,000,000 had been spontaneously contributed. But all records are eclipsed by the Unknown Patriot who starts this prodigious snowball in such magnificent fashion for the liquidation of National Debt. THIS episode is almost the first gleam of hope for the harassed and embarrassed British taxpayer, who has been variously described, and treated, as the common milch cow,' the toad under the harrow," and "the common cockshy of all 99 66 Political Parties." A Gleam of 66 As was pointed out in an article in the Weekly Dispatch (February 12th), our Unknown Patriot is as shrewd and sagacious as he is publicspirited and generous. He knows a thing or two." Unlike his predecessors in welldoing, he has been careful not to entrust his fortune to the Government, which might cast it into the common pool and make it an excuse for fresh extravagance. He realizes that the promises of Politicians are as piecrust, and that their undertakings of to-day are liable to be forgotten or repudiated to-morrow. He has accordingly vested his £500,000 in trustees who can be relied upon to discharge their trust and to see that the money is laid out to the best advantage and devoted to its proper objective-the reduction of our National Debt. It is the operation of compound interest that gives it its character, and we have no sympathy with those hypercritics who regret that it has not been allotted to some less remote purpose than the repayment of National Debt in a dim and distant future. Everything is relative, including time, and a hundred years is nothing in the life of a nation. It is less than it was in individual life, as the number of centenarians is steadily increasing, and this time next century it may be comparatively common to have lived a hundred years. In 2028 the £500,000 of the Unknown Patriot will, if invested meanwhile at the modest rate of 4 per cent., amount to nearly £40,000,000, and if at 5 per cent. it would be £64,000,000. To appreciate the vista of interesting possibilities opened up now that the fatuous Thellusson Act has been repealed, it is only necessary to mention that had £10,000,000 been set aside the year after the Battle of Waterloo for the extinction of National Debt at compound interest, the whole £900,000,000 would have been paid off by 1914, and we should have entered the Great War free from Debt. Moreover, three generations of taxpayers would have saved untold millions of Sinking Funds. WHAT opportunities we have missed owing to the lack of vision and enterprise of Responsible Statesmen who are so overweighted with their sense of responsibility that their |