Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-04-23
NAVAL RESERVE NEEDED.
SECRETARY WHITNEY INDORSES
 GEN. WHITTHoRNE'S BILL.
In Time of Peace Prepare for war-Ne- cessity of Fleet of Merchant Ships That Could Fight if Necessary-Other Washington News.


 cessity of Fleet of Merchant Ships
 That Could Fight if Necessary-Other
 Washington News.
 WASHINGTON, April 23.-Representativs Whitthorne, chairman of the subcommittee of the house naval committee, having in charge the bills now pending before the com mittee looking to the establishment of a naval reserve, has received long letter from Sec retary Whitney, in which he declares himself earnestly and unequivocally in favor of such legislation. The secretary says in his letter that the necessity for the maintenance of Q naval reserve is so universally recognized at the present day that an indorsement of the proposition is necessarily matter of mere form. No nation maintains a standing army or navy adequate to its defense, or to the maintenance of its rights in war. All of them rely upon reserves and upon the prep aration previously made for expanding quickly from a peace to a war basis.
 The maintenance of a naval reserve, the secretary observes, is a measure of economy. Under such a system body of men support ing themselves by ordinary civil pursuits is enrolled and trained by the government sufi- ciently for i's purposes in the event of war, at comparatively small expense. England, he says, maintains, with an annual expendi- ture of less than s2, 900 ,0OO an auxiliary naval force twice as large as the entire American | navy. A naval reserve is so eminently con- sistent with our policy as a nation that the secretary can only express wonder that it has hitherto been overlooked.
 The necessity for a naval reserve, the sec | retary says, has become more imperative with the changes which have come about in the art of war. In former times, when the | implements of war were simple in construc- | hon and the ship was handled wholly or | mainly by sail, the seafaring class were avail | able for immediate incorporation into the | naval force: now seamanship plays an unim- | portant part; the ship is handled below deck, and no man is fit to be engrafted into naval force who has not been previously trained to a knowledge of the modern implements of war and naval tactics; so that it may be said, he adds, that there is no longer any naval re- serve in the merchant marine. More than this, preparation which has not been pre- | viously made cannot be extemporized. The speed and power of modern navies are such that fortnight is sufficient for European power to concentrate an absolutely over towering force, where months were formerly required, and so the only time for preparation is now in time of peace. After indorsing in a general way the bill which was prepared by Gen. Whitthorne for the establishment of a naval reserve, and sug- gesting some amendments thereto, the secre- tary closes his letter by saying:
 Gin the judgment of the depai tment it is both necessary and economical that the gov | ernment should have in reserve a fleet of auxiliary merchant ships, previously prepared with the necessary fittings for instant conver- sion into cruisers, which would therefore be | available upon moments notice for use by l the government in time of war"