The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-12-24
MIR. SCOTS WAR TALK.

Venerable s~hipbuilder Tells How He
Thinks 1t Would Go.
SAN Francisco, Dec. 24.-Irving M.
Scott, president of the Union Iron COM
pany, who built the Olympia, and sew.
eral other Of the best American war
ships, says that in the event of war be-
tween England and America, this
country would come out on top.
There is no question Of England's
great strength on the water" said Mr..
Scott, but it is not always the strong
sst navy that gets away with q battle.
A lucky shot will turn the tide Of the
fight when the danger seems the great
est. England might give us a dash at
first, but in the end we would whip
her.
she would have to come over to fight
US. By the time her battleships crossed
the Atlantic they would be short of
fuel and it would be necessary to reload.
The English warships would make for
Halifax and our efforts would be to
intercept.
The First Great Naval Battle
would take place off the mouth of the
St. Lawrence river. Our people would
cross into Canada and force the British
to send reinforcements there. The Eng
lish would no doubt attempt to lay
siege to Buffalo, Milwaukee, Chicago
and other lake cities. They would send
their small ships into the lakes to at
tack our cities, their object being to
keep up their frontier by compelling us
to stay at home. Then our objective
point would be the Welland canal.
With the canal destroyed, connection
with the lakes would be closed and the
British feet shut out.
Canada the Vulnerable Point.
'In my judgment, if war is declared,
every effort would be made on the part
of our armies to get into Canada, before
a sufficient force could be gathered
there to stop their progress. Canada is
a valuable place to us, and England
weuld be obliged to bring troops over
to defend it. The transportation of
troops from England to America would
be no easy task. The transports will
have to be conveyed by cruisers and
battleships and the speed would be
that Of the slowest ship in the fleet.
No Trouble to Raise an Army.
"The president would find no trouble
in raising an army. One million men
would volunteer as fast as they could
be organized. 1t would be a very diff
ferent proposition to a wal between the
North and South. The whole country
would be invited to give battle to Eng
land, and as much patriotism would b.
displayed as in the days Of 1776.
"a wal between England and the
United States would change the face OF
the whole world. Russia would gair
Constantinople and England would
, lose India. China would be divided be
tween Russia, Japan, France and Ger
many.
Englaud's Com merce Would Disappear
| and her industries and sources of wealth
would be seriously CT ppled. The tend
ency of American ship owners woult
, be to transfer to some other nation il
q order to escape English privateers
Some neutral nation would doubles
benefit by the war in point OF com
merce. France might take a notion t
attack England while she is busy witt
the United States. All things consid
cred, i do not think England wants t
y fight very badly. Then, it seems t
n me, that a boundary strip in Venezuel
h is too trivial an affair for two coun
Al tries like the United States and Grea
q Britain to go to war over, and I thin
some peaceful solution viii be found t
settle the controversy"