Pci-icw of Reviews, 1 131 13. 



rones OF the month. 



35 



longer assumes responsibility for the 

 financial probity of these Latin States, 

 she cannot object when European 

 Powers use force to obtain satisfaction 

 from defaulting Republics. This means 

 the seizure of porls and capitals by 

 foreign forces until debts are paid. 

 Any slackening of the Monroe doctrine 

 leaves the door open to temporary oc- 

 cupation of territory in Central and 

 South America by one or other of the 

 Great Powers, and temporary occupa- 

 tion has before now become permanent 

 as, witness, Egypt and Tunis, Morocco 

 and Tripoli. It is unthinkable that the 

 United States would ever tolerate the 

 definite establishment of a great power 

 on the American Continent, but the 

 abandonment of the wider application 

 of the Monroe doctrine would inevitably 

 make it more difficult for her to prevent 

 this. 



The whole foreign policy of the 

 United States may be reversed, but Aus- 

 tralia would not be much affected ex- 

 cept by the two radical changes men- 

 tioned above. But a party in opposi- 

 tion often pledges itself to definite 

 action along lines which, when it comes 

 to power, it finds quite impossible to 

 follow. Thus it will doubtless be with 

 the Philijipines, and the Monroe doc- 

 trine. President Wilson will, however, 

 carry out the downward revision of the 

 tariff, which the increasing cost of liv- 

 ing in the States makes imperati\e. 

 His efforts will be watched with interest 

 here, as in many ways the fiscal condi- 

 tions of the States are similar to those 

 obtaining in Australia. 



WHAT IS THE MONROE DOCTRINE? 



American statesmen have always care- 

 full v avoided giving a definite declara- 

 tion of what the Monroe doctrine really 

 means. It is used when needed to suit 

 any situation arising on the American 

 Continent. It was originally promul- 

 gated by President Monroe to keep 

 Spain from seeking to reassert sove- 

 reignty over her revolted colonies. It 

 set forth that no power should be al- 

 lowed to alter from outside the status 

 quo then existing on the American Con- 

 tinent. Internal upheavals might take 

 place, but no foreign power was allowed 

 to acquire any new territory in the 

 Western Hemisphere. The doctrine 

 has been extended and expounded until 

 it may now mean protectorates over and 

 regulation of such Latin American 

 States as seem unable to continue their 

 own affairs. It can be interpreted to 

 mean that the LTnited States has taken 

 the whole of the Western Hemisphere 

 under her control, and says " Hands 

 off " to the rest of the world. The Latin 

 Republics do not like their foster-mother 

 at all. They had rather manage — or 

 mismanage — their own affairs. That 

 this might lead to their ultimate annexa- 

 tion b)' a great power leaves them cold. 

 It is generally assumed, by the way, in 

 South America, that the German fleet, 

 which looms so large a bogie before 

 British eyes, is intended for the inevit- 

 able war with the United States when 

 German)- makes her great effort to ob- 

 tain a " place in the sun " on the Ameri- 

 can Continent. 



III.-SHOOTING EXTRAORDINARY. 



The comparative gunnery trials be- 

 tween tb.e " Thunderer " and the 

 " Orion," the former fitted with Sir Percy 

 Scott's fire director, resulted in a com- 

 plete triumph for the former, says 

 Gerard Fiennes, naval exj^ert in the 

 Pall Mall Gazette. All the infor- 

 mation obtainable leads to this con- 

 clusion. Both ships fired under abso- 

 lutely equal conditions as to weather 

 and light ; there was a heavy sea run- 

 ning, and the " Thunderer" put just six 

 times as man\' shots on the target as 



the opposing ship. An e)e-witness says 

 that nothing like it could be conceived. 

 The salvoes of five shots from the 13.5 

 inch guns — in some rounds there may 

 have been ten shots — fell absolutel}- as 

 one, elevation and direction being iden- 

 tical for all. Think what this means. 

 If the ten guns of the broadside are 

 fired together, it means plumping five 

 and a half tons of metal filled with high 

 explosive on a few feet of the enenn's 

 hull. Could any ship in the world sur- 

 vive it ?■ The range was, roughl\-, ten 



