St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-11-26


yond its requirements. This increase was a
providential reserve for the emergencies of
war Besides, we DO use these officers as
inspectors OF lighthouses and in scientific re-
searches, and since there is no likelihood Of
our cutting down the official roster-would II
not be the wisest for other paramount rea
sons TO build more ships and of the right
kind. Tue secretary of the navy told the
naval committee. of which / am chairman,
that we have LOO naval officers, with not
one modern ship or gun for them 10 COM
mand.
-. What, then, is the naval necessity of
our time aud countryl This involves the
present condition of the mechanical and
chemical motors in navigation, gun nery, rams
and torpedoes, etc land thus we are launched
upon the waste of experiment and I'M
certainty, and in this vast domain there
is danger OF doing nothing, or worse.
TIE truth is, we have lost nothing since the
war by not constructing a navy. Why's Be-
cause, since the CONT bat between the Merri-
mac and the little Monitor and the astound-
ing results of the famous ''swamp angePi
long reaching gun, naval architecture and
and the appliances OF force for attack and
defense on land and sea have been revolu-
e
Spain, Germany, Italy, and even Chili-have
made splendid and costly navies. Many Of
their vessels and ornaments are already OBJ
solete or of doubtful use. While we have
happily had no wal and saved vast OUTLAWS,
we now observe that these nations began
where we left off AZ the close of our war, aud
we now take up the problem where they
leave it with all the marvellous aud accumu-
lated advancement of the past twenty years.
Another yet, and the old problem remains.
whether the gun or the target is the more
potential. II is just determined at Spezia
that the 100 ton gun is irresistible. It's steel
projectie penetrated thirty-six inches Of solid
iron backed with heavy wooden frames. Guns
are ahead Of armor. TIE problem seems
solved; for We are limited in the hcft Of
the armor of a vessel; but we see no limit as
yet to the explosive and penetrating power Of
guD-cotton, dynamite or powder. In fact,
new kinds and new forms of powder charges
have appeared. / fred a shot last spring at
Annapolis from our last and best gun Of six
inch caliber, which would have carried six
miles but for the earth, into which it sank
tbirty-fve feet. That gun has been fired 14s
times since, and it stands the enorn Gus
strain. / never entirely recovered from the
report Of that gun Qaughtcr) although we
have had an eection-and the thunder
thereof and the shouting of the captains !
Naughter.) What nextl VIII the naval
vessels of the world d-op their coat of mail!
Are the days OF ehivalry gone byl Then
whats Every vessel will be unarlned and
the battle will be to the best if not TO the
biggest guns or the fleetest heels.
''THIs INTRODUCES ANOTHER PROBLEM,
and that is the swiftness Ct the vessel for
fight. Hence, the advantage Of foreign
powers who have the fast six-and-a-half day
steamers of the Clyde. They can be run
away from the biggest iron clads, or be
transformed into the most aggressive OF
Alabamas. They can run out of range of
the best guns. Then what becomes of the
picnic cruisers We are now building, in-
tended for the destruction OF commerce.
The only commerce they can destroy will be
that carried in the slow "tramps" OF the sea,
who, when caught, are not worth catching.
So that, gentlemen, If you would have a navy
as fit guardian Of commerce, you must not
initiate the Dogberrys of Messina, and bid
all suspicious crafts steal out of your COM
pany. You must not only arm your con-
stable with the best club and the best revol
yer, but you must equip him with the stout
est physique and with the winged
feet of Mercury. Then he NAV
run away from the enemy if the enemy be
too strong, and overtake him if be be other
wise. The first of the new cruisers, the Dol
phin, is not yet officially reported upon, but
it is alleged that she is failure in speed, and
if SO my criticism on cruiser policy in the
last session of congress was we'll taken
And If it appears that the monster guns Of
Italy and Germany, not to speak of tue ma
chine guns of Calling and Hotchkiss, re-
Gently used by France in Chinese waters with
such terrible devastation of life and vessels,
render any arnor, and therefore any vessel,
vulnerable TO the steel shot, the problem OF
sea fights above water is solved. The navy
which should guard commerce is already
idealized. The vessel with its heavy plates
and the cruiser with It's slow speed will lose
much OF their old appreciation. The gov
ernment, therefore, will be most provideni
and wise if it perfect the gun. Already
money is appropriated TO try various models.
Ordnance experiments are being made with
dynamite and gun cotton. Torpedoes, aerial
and otherwise, are being invented. The
explosives which physics have recently de-
yeloped, to the terror of Russian dyuasties
and English policemen, are becoming better
death. So that after all, gentlemen, com
merce-which bears its bloom and fruit best
when peace sends out her dove upon the
waters-may have an unexpected incentive
and a glorious development by the deadly
lessons of chemistry which teach the highest
refinement of the art of butchery. Ifwar be
a butchers trade, let our admirals and gen
erals go to the sham bles, and there learn
that the highest skill is the greatest hu-
manitv, for the butcher does not destroy by
piecemeal or mangle in detail. He is more
fatelly merciful. He aims at once at the
vital point His work is then easiest. and
If he were a warrior be would be factor in
civilization and peace. Dynamite is not
the gospel Of ruin, retribution and rebellion,
or of desolation, devastation and death. 1t
is, as some good man would say, the evangel
of mechanism, mildness and the millen-
mum.
''But is peace TO be forever vanishing?
Are the mutitudinous seas 10 be forever in
carnadined-as the phrase goes painted
redi One would suppose so, were it not
that nations are rivaling each other in the
art of destruction. The Austro-Prussian war
was ended speedily by the needle-gun of the
successful beligerent. Germany now exeels
in torpedoes, Russia in commerce cripplers,
France in rams, Austria in the personnel and
training of the navy, Scandinavia in defen-
sive gunboats, Italy in huge iron elads aud
big guns, and even Greece is building armed
corvettes of a neat type. Perhaps we shall
remain as we are, derelct-even when Eng
land, our jealous friend, is combining all the
offensive ana defensive methods. Truly,
Punch may well represent the Yankee as
bigger than his garments. 1t may be, how
ever, that we have magnificent elements of
peace and liberty which, with isolated poll
cies, are better for safety than would be the
best equipments for war. But it is bestfo be
prepared, after all. Suppose. we are not in
SO much danger from war as some nations,
and that our gospel is that of unentanp lin o