The morning call., 1893-10-22

tion, and the excitement of the troubles In
Rio Janeiro has scarcely died away. The
Importance OF the American navy increases
every day. and the personality and vie vs.
of the man who preSides over it are full OF
interest
l spent an hour with him la ct week at
the department, and continued my CONVEX
sation during an evening which he then
fixed for me at his home. l know but
little about wars and fighting. and at my
request the Secretary kindly avoided tech
nical terms. and explained matters in such
great interest to the average reader. He
is charming conversationalist. He has
for years been making a study of nava |
matters, and when | asked him bow it
came that he, man who had been brought
up in the interior of the country. miles
away from the seacoast, became such q
specialist in naval affairs, he replied:
II think my first interest in the navy was
aroused by book which read when was
boy. 1t was entitled THE Naval Battles
OF the Revolution and of 1872 and it made
such an i'm preston upon my mind that Tor
a time l wan ed to 60 to sea. From that
time to this [ have read and studied every
thing could find In connection with the
navy, and when was first elected to Con-
gresS, about seventeen years ago, Iremem-
Der that 1 came here with the idea that
the navy ought to be improved. Richard
Thompson of Indiana was then Secre-
tary. and it was with some trepldation
that /, green CONGRESSMAN, called
upon him and told him that / wanted
to know something as to the condition
of the navy. / said that l thought our
cities along the coast were in an unpro-
tected state, and that we ought to have
better ships and better guns. Secretary
Thompson. who had pro obably been both
cred by young Congressman before, lis
tened 10 my statement. AS l finished he
rather pompously, but confidently, told
me that L might rest easy about the mat
ter. And that our torpedoes had then
| reached such state OF perfection that il
| the ships Of all the world could come at
| once within the range Of those we had
| planted along the seacoast we could blow
them out of the water. | remember that
/ went away from the department with
| my mind considerably relieved. did not
know as much about torpedoes then as l do
| now. or | should undoubtedly have had a
| different opinion.
| II continued my interest in the navy.
| Committee on Naval Affairs during large
| part of my Congressional period. l was.
| you, know, chairman Of that committee
during three Congresses, including the last
one."
"How does our navy now compare with
the other great navies of the world ?"
Every well. indeed" replied the Secre-
tary. "or it will do so as soon as we have
finished the ships we are now building.
We now stand fifth or sixth among the
great navies of the world. The greatest
naval power on earth is Great Britain.
She has nearly half as many naval officers
Gs we have men, and her total naval SER
vice includes about 100000 She has 275
ships in commission and she is making
others. so that next year she will have
about 425 effective ships afoat. Her colo
nies are such that the very existence
of her government depends upon a
is now building will cost, 1t is said, more
than $100.000,000. Next to England as a
great naval power is France, which has
some of the biggest gunboats and best
armored ships of the world. Her naval
service includes vast numbers of men, and
the same is true of Italy and Russia.
Next to these powers comes the United
States or Germany. 1t is a question as to
whether Germany or the United States
stands fifth In rank among the navies Of
the world. In some respects we are su-
perIor to Germany and in some they are
ahead of US. We are rapidly advancing.
however, and our navy has been the crea-
ton of practically only the last ten years. !"
Whist kind of naval officers DO Ameri-
cans make? How do we rank among the
nations as fighters on the sea 2,
Il believe the American is naturally
fitted for naval warfare. and l believe we
have all the elements of great naval
power. do not think it a necessity that
we should surpass the world in this regard
at present. The development of our vast
Interior resources will consume our best