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ECONOMIC FOREIGN POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES. By Benjamin H. Williams. New York: McGraw- Hill Book Company. 1929. $5.00.
Reviewed by Brockholst Livingston
Economics are so closely bound up with foreign policy that Professor Williams’ book fills a long-felt want. Perhaps it is even more valuable to the Navy because it has been on that service that the burden of enforcing our economic foreign policy has devolved, as testified so appropriately by the author. Much space is taken up with an exposition of this fact which is summed up in the following sentence:
While large diplomatic movements and tendencies are ordinarily not reducible to measurement .... our economic influence can be traced roughly in the statistics of guns and tonnage that represent the growth of the American Navy.
The author has traced our varying policies and, in treating the questions from the differing viewpoints of our associates in the world of commerce, he has set before us a clear picture of our economic relations with the rest of nations. He does not make it clear whether he approves of our policies, although statements suggestive of criticism abound throughout the pages.
The inter-Allied debts, because of their importance to the future economic welfare of those concerned, receive extensive discussion. Of them he has this to say:
If the whole question could be removed from the so-called “moral” plane and settled with a sincere desire to attain the best future interests of all countries, the matter would lose much of its complexity.
In a paragraph which he has called the “General Worthlessness of the ‘Moral’ Arguments,” he brings out that
The moral arguments as a class illustrate primitive reasoning on international subjects. There are no standards by which these claims can be measured, and there is a tendency to exaggerate them on both sides. To attempt to settle an important world controversy by that method can only result in sending each set of contenders into its shell of self-righteousness from which it cannot be driven.
To such statements he adds that “industry made Germany formidable and the lack of it made Russia impotent.”
It would be possible to point out a lack of political foresight on the part of the author when he suggests that, in some future dispute with European nations, a declaration of war by them may be conceived as an easy method of cancellation of their indebtedness to the United States. It is also difficult to reconcile such an idea with his advocacy of greater participation in the submission of disputes to friendly adjustment.
It does not require great persuasion to agree with the writer that “economic forces are .... more important factors in the success or failure of government monopolies than are the attitudes of state departments and foreign offices.” The past policy of the United States to shun the participation of the government in industry is proof of a proper appreciation of this fact.
In his concluding chapter, which he has entitled “The Economic Diplomacy of the Future,” Professor Williams believes that, at present, “the United States has fallen behind in the movement for the friendly adjustment of disputes,” and that our failure to join the World Court “amounts to a refusal to become associated with the most practical and hopeful institution of its kind.” He states that, in his belief, this marks “this country as clearly backward in the development of machinery for the friendly settlement of international difficulties.” In so branding the nation, the author has conveniently forgotten many incidents of past history and contemporary events which belie his statements. This is to be regretted as, otherwise, the book is a valuable one for the student of domestic and foreign affairs, and these opinions should not overshadow the usefulness of the volume in depicting accurate facts on the questions discussed.
LUNAR EPHEMERIS FOR AVIATORS. Aëronautical Supplement to the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac, 1929. Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office.
Reviewed by Lieutenant Commander P. V. H. Weems, U. S. Navy
The Aëronautical Supplement to the American Nautical Almanac, 1929, was distributed to ships and air stations of the Navy in September, 1929. While it is designated “Lunar Ephemeris for Aviators,” it is applicable, of course, to marine navigation. In fact, it will find its greatest present use at sea. Only the last four months of 1929 are included in this, the first volume, and its future depends on the reception the tables receive in the service. It is a neatly printed volume 7x10x1/4 inches, paper bound and similar to the Nautical Almanac except that its color is a light gray-green.
While the tables are exceptionally clear and easy to use, it is believed that its appearance and utility can be enhanced in minor ways. For instance, by close economy of space the size may be reduced to approximately that of the Nautical Almanac. The name might be changed to “Lunar Ephemeris for Aviators and Mariners” so that seafaring persons will not ignore it. While designed primarily for aviators, who will use bubble sextants, it does not contain altitude corrections for the bubble sextant.
The tables are made out for every ten minutes of Greenwich civil time. Instead of the usual right ascension and declination, the Greenwich hour angle and the declination are tabulated. All this means is that the Greenwich hour angle is computed for every ten minutes and tabulated that way instead of leaving it to the navigator to figure out the Greenwich hour angle each time it is needed. To show what this means, it is necessary to start off with the Greenwich civil time and then compute the Greenwich hour angle of the moon by the old method. First we must add to the GCT the RAM ?+ 12 hrs., and then add the correction for the longitude (Table III). This operation will give the Greenwich sidereal time. The right ascension is found by a tedious interpolation and applied to the GST to get the Greenwich hour angle. Since right ascension is tabulated in time units, this must be converted to arc. When this is done, we get the same value that is tabulated for every ten minutes in the Lunar Ephemeris. Also, since the declination is given for every ten minutes, very little interpolation is required for this.
It is much better to make the observation on the even ten minutes to avoid all interpolation. If the observation is made at an odd time, there is a rather large interpolation for the Greenwich hour angle. This comes about because of the fact that the hour angle of the body, neglecting its change in right ascension, changes approximately fifteen minutes of arc for every minute of time, which is much faster than the right ascension changes. On the other hand, the minute difference is given to facilitate the interpolation when this is necessary. The minute difference is given to two decimal places. Since the interpolation is never for more than ten minutes, the minute difference might well be given to the nearest tenth, thus saving one column of figures.
The Greenwich hour angle is tabulated from 0 to 360 degrees. It might be more convenient to have the tabulation from 0 to 180 degrees to the east and to the west.
The semidiameter and horizontal parallax are given for every eight hours only. Sample problems are given to illustrate the use of the tables.
To illustrate the difference between the old and the new tables, a sample of each will be given for one day, October 16, 1929. To show the actual work saved, one example will be given.
Required, the Greenwich hour angle and declination of the moon for GCT 10h-10m- 00s on October 16, 1929.
In actual practice, it is the work saved by the new moon tables which has heretofore caused many navigators to shun the use of the moon altogether for navigation. Now that the moon sight becomes easier, when observed on the ten-minute intervals, than the sun sight, there will exist no longer the prejudice against the moon as a navigational body.
The advent of the Lunar Ephemeris will increase the value of the second-setting navigation watches, since these timepieces show the exact second of time and thereby provide at a glance the time to observe the moon in order to avoid all interpolation. These watches are being supplied to the ships and air stations by the Naval Observatory in the order the requests are received from ships and stations. It will be noted that the same watch is used for a moon sight as is used for a sun sight.
To sum up the advantages of the new Lunar Ephemeris we have:
- No interpolation on even ten minutes, and an easy interpolation for all conditions.
(2) No GST required.
(3) No RA required.
(4) A saving of about 70 per cent in the solution of the moon sight over the old method.
(4) Practically no chance of making an error in finding the GHA and the Dec.
The Lunar Ephemeris is a credit to the Naval Observatory and this step in the simplification of nautical tables will, it is hoped, prove a forerunner to other and greater savings for the navigator. With high-speed ships and with aircraft the saving in time alone, by using the new tables, is an important item. Next we might arrange special tables for Venus, and give the sun’s elements for every hour instead of every two hours as at present.