The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1896-08-15
E~NGLaND'S GREAT NAVY.
why 1t WoaId Be- Practically Useless IN
r War with Germany.

Germany possesses q large com
mercial marine and enormous trade,
with a relatively small extent OF
coast line. Our fleets could undoubt-
eddy iniure her trade, but upon that
she Is not dependent for her ma
tional existence. Size has land from
tiers across which she can always
import any food stuifs and other
supplies which she cannot produce
for herself. By stopping her sea
h0Tno trade we might cripple her
financially, but we could scarcely
hope. if she Eel i'll a determined
mood, to bring her to her knees. To
do that we should have to destroy
her fleet, to seize her naval ports
and perhaps eve TO undertake the
landing on her shores Of a large cX-
p~editionary force. | DO not desire
to insist upon the expeditionary
forco. will contemplate only the
destruction or capture of her feet
and Of her ports and the shipping in
them, and | would ask, Have vo
sent to s2a-and indeed do We pos
scss-Such "a naval force as could
affect those ends? Tho answer must
DO in the negative.
The German coasts, both i'll the
Baltic and in the North sea, are sur
rounded by shadows, and are, even
in the most favorable circumstances,
difficult of approach for large ships.
In War time, with buoys removed
and lights extinguished, it would be
impossible for ironclads drawing %
feet and upward-as all our modern
ironclads without exception do-to
get within tho longest gnnshot of
Wilhelmshavon, Hamburg, kiel,
Stettin or Danzig, where alone, un-
less we could persuade the German
fleets to come out into the open, we
could expect to deal a staggering
blow.
To dream of attacking German
coasts and harbOrs, fortified as they
arc, without the cooperation of
ironclads would be sheer folly even
if we had the cooperation of a land
ing force. Yet wo have not today a
single light draft ironclad fit for
operations within range of modern
guns on herself carrying guns of
that sort. For years past we have
built large ironclads and no others.
| havo nothing to urge against the
large ironclads. Other things being
equal, tho large ironclnd should be
more formidable and more safe in il
fleet action in deep water than the
small ono. But that is not the only
point to be considered in thinking
of Il war with Germany.
We al recullect the futile appear
anCe of the German coasts of the
French fleet in 1870. Germany sim
| ply sat still behind her sand banks
and her forts and did almost moth
ing, until at length the French, buf,
feted by a hard winter and perplox-
ed by the coaling problem, began to
grow weary Of the enforced inactiv-
ity and went home again. As Ger
many did with France in 1870 so
might she elect to do with Great
Britain in 1886. If she did, VIC
should find ourselves condemned to
fill comparatively passive role, and
we could do nothing decisive unless
late i'll the day we set about building
ships OF the types which ought al
ready to be we'll represented i'll oul
navy, but which have not a single
eNponcnt,-Nineteenth Century.
Killing Its Virtue.
Was talking to a policeman at tbs
entrance to the Brooklyn bridge the
other day when a ragged and hard VI
looking col6red nan came up aud ex-
hihited Il small parcel and said:
81 re dun gotter do it. Reckoned /
could hold ont, but | can't"
"Nhat is it, asked the Office.
"Gotter sell my maidstone, what's bin
IN de family so vars. Didn't wan, tc
let 20 of it till | died, but I'ze after
meat and t0ttrs."
'it' = l "tlth. was tShti tS t1r
pnnpT was mrolled and il piece of stone,
looking lik" a carpenters oil stone,
Wa brought TO view.
Cant zactly say, sab. 1t has cured
fO'teen different pussons who were Bit
by mad dogs
Eyes. | see,' unused the officer as he
brought ont his old knife, spit on the
stone and began wEetting the blade.
"What you dun? What you one al
dun" shouted the old man as he jumped
up and down.
"l'm sharpening my knife
But you spit on dat stone, an da'
takes all de virtue outer it! You has dun
ruined it foreber an eber!'
"Oh, come off"
"Doan' you hear me talkin? Whel
you spit on a maidstone, it doan' worl
any mo-! want $40, DOOR,
"Bosh!'
Den I'll sue you fur Il millyun
Whar's de boss: Whar's de lawsuit of
ice? Look st dat! He's spittin agin!
want You all fur to witness dat, he
dun ruined dat maidstone an damaged hi
a miliyun dollarsn'
And off he went to find a lawyer ant
begin il suit for damages.
betrayed by a Client.