they great or small, as efficient as possible and in active employment as effective as possible.

PRINCIPLES OF POLICY

In making and promoting state policies two considerations enter, one of self-interest and one of ethics. In this respect we find that the fundamental rules of policy governing the relations between nations are not very different from the rules of conduct governing business and social relations between men.

In a community of individuals each man seeks to increase his wealth and to add comfort and pleasure to his own life and to that of his family. Nor do his neighbors question the propriety of this objective so long as the means employed are honorable and do not infringe the rights and privileges of others. It is recognized that the worldly success of a good citizen benefits his community.

It is similar to this in the community of nations. Policies of self-interest, to increase the wealth, power and influence of a state, are the outcome of a natural ambition for progress, and so long as they are furthered by just and honorable means such policies advance the cause of civilization and contribute to the world's welfare. National wealth and power, under control of a good government, commands respect and exerts a beneficent influence in the conduct of world affairs, just as wealth honestly amassed and wisely used by an individual commands respect and works for good in the business affairs of men. It is thus seen that there is a balance between self-interest and altruism. Power of doing good is not helped but hindered by blind idealism which neglects the essentials of self-interest. This applies equally to individual men and to nations. But in this, as in nearly all arguments by analogy, pitfalls will be met if the comparison is pressed too closely. There are marked points of difference between a community of individuals and a community of nations. For one thing, the regulation of intercourse between men has reached a more advanced stage than has the regulation of intercourse between the various states of the world.

In summing up it may be fairly stated that self-interest constitutes the major consideration of state policy, and that it should be frankly accepted as the adequate motive which it most assuredly is. It is a fundamental of human nature, and under the

control of enlightened intellect is worthy and productive of happy consequences. This is not to say that sentiment and idealism have no place in policy. On the contrary they have an important influence on and are closely associated with the more materialistic considerations. In the grouping and regrouping of nations, in the movements of humanity which make up the history of the world it has been shown that the ties of blood and language have a holding power not to be overlooked, that these, however, do not bind as do territorial limits and the forces of physical propinquity, and finally that neither racial ties nor boundary lines, nor do the two together arouse human passions and influence combinations and separations of men as do pressures exerted by economic conditions.

State policy may be said to rest on three principles:

1. The Principle of Self-Interest.-Economic considerations count first, territorial second, and racial or ethnological considerations third.

2. The Principle of Humanity. No nation will long endure whose policies violate the moral code of civilization.

3. The Principle of National Defense.-A state too weak to defend its policies must be prepared to give way to more ambitious rivals.

U. S. NAVAL INSTITUTE, ANNAPOLIS, MD.

[COPYRIGHTED]

HOW THE CUSHING TOWED IN THE MURRAY By LIEUTENANT (J. G.) PAUL W. HAINS (C. C.), U. S. Navy

Those officers who were stationed at Brest, France, about Thanksgiving, 1918, will recall the episode of the grounding of the Connor and the Murray, two destroyers who were returning from a "Limey" outing of four days in company with four other destroyers. The Connor, senior and therefore at the head of the column, made a rather unusual mistake. It was early in the morning, and the weather was growing thick. She identified Isle Vierge Light for Ouessante; and in turning to port, presumedly to round the latter island, piled well onto the hidden rocks which so infest that part of the rocky French coast. Before the news of the grounding could be flashed to the other craft, the Murray had also gone aground and had ripped a huge opening in her bottom about amidships. While the Connor (having damaged her shafts and propellers) prepared for the worst, with the wrecking tug Favorite standing at full speed up the dangerous Le Four Channel to her rescue, the Murray was swung clear of the treacherous rocks by some kind Providence, and started for Brest under her own steam. Very soon, however, this more fortunate of the two vessels realized that she could not maintain even the meagre five knots with which she had started for Brest, and she accordingly signaled for help. The Cushing, being the only destroyer within visual distance at that time, made preparations for taking her in tow.

The whole story furnishes most excellent material for wardroom or quarterdeck chats. But it is the purpose of this article to explain how the various problems in seamanship that arose were solved to tell how the Cushing took the Murray in tow, how the Cushing steered a fair course under adverse circumstances, and

how she eventually transferred the tow-line to a tugboat just outside of Brest Harbor.

The first problem was, of course, to pass a tow-line to the Murray-not considered a difficult task generally. On the occasion in question, however, a strong wind and high seas, together with intermittent rain, which rendered lines cranky and unmanageable, combined to make the situation and problem in hand anything but simple. In fact, four different attempts to pass the tow-line, each involving a distinct principle, were made by the Cushing before success was attained.

In the first attempt to pass the line the scheme seemed simple enough, it being merely to steam up abreast the Murray and drop a line overboard, with a spar or keg attached to the free end. The Murray was to pick this up. Accordingly, a good size spar was bent to one end of a five-inch line, and the usual towing gear was laid out on the fantail. The Cushing steamed at one-third speed past the Murray; the line and spar were heaved overboard, but not until the Cushing had almost passed the Murray. The result was inevitable. The line could not be paid out fast enough and the spar was dragged out of the range of the Murray's grappling irons.

The second attempt was of similar character but based upon the known fact that a ship will drift in a strong wind faster than a small object in the water, due to the greater wind surface offered by the ship. The maneuvers of the first attempt were repeated with one exception. The Cushing steamed slowly past the disabled destroyer in the same direction as that in which she was headed, but to leeward of her this time. The spar was dropped earlier, but still not early enough. When clear of the Murray, moreover, the Cushing failed to check her speed by backing on both engines; and the net result was as fruitless as before the spar was dragged far past the Murray before that ship could get the line with her grappling irons. Had the Cushing dropped the spar some 50 yards astern of the Murray and then, when once clear of her, completely stopped her own ahead motion, there is no doubt but that this method would have proved successful. The principle is undeniably excellent. But in its application these two points must be strictly observed or else failure will result: (1) The spar must be dropped far enough astern so that