The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1896-01-10
England and America-The1r Rel
alive Naval Strength.
(Communicated.)i


Messrs. Editors of the Citizen
AS the relations now existing be-
tween Great Britain and America are
in somewhat of strained condition on
account of the application of the Mon
roe Doctrine as applied to the Venez-
uela boundary dispute, and as these
relations of the two countries m ght
eventually lead to war, we desire to
draw the attention of the American
public to the strength of our own
navy as compared with that of Great
Britain, a comparison that will cause
any sensible American, who is not an
extreme '.jngoist," to carefully con-
slider any peaceable solution that will
clear us in an honorable manner from
our present ENHANCEMENT.
Referring to material which lies be-
fore us, we find that England has in
service the following formidable array
of armored vessels: Battleships, So;
coast defence vessels, IL; cruisers, 25;
total, SO. She has also in service the
following unarmOred vessels: Protected
cruisers, So; cruisers, SO; gun vessels,
IA; torpedo vessels, "a; making a total
of unarmOred vessels of 1888, and a
grand total of 274 armored and unar-
mored, augmented by the powerful adj
dition of 189 torpedo boats. She has
authorized and building 10 battleships,
A armored cruisers, % protected cruis-
ers, cruisers, gun vessels and So
torpedo boats, making total of 104
authorized vessels, which, after COM
pletion and added to the 274 already in
service, will give them the powerful ar
mament of 378 vessels of war.
To cope with this powerful fleet of
274 vessels now ready for service, the
United States now has battleships,
Is coast defence vessels, armored
cruiser, Is protected cruisers, 20 cruis-
ers, gun vessels, torpedo vessel and
2 torpedo boats, a total of 81 vessels.
She has authorized and is building
battleseips, coast defense vessels, /
armored cruiser, 8 gun vessels and z
torpedo boats, making total of rs ves-
sells in course of construction, which, if
flushed in the shortest possible limit,
would yet only give us 88 vessels of all
NO0OA' POAOIOf VA OAIJ OIcO UCUU vi Vic
number Great Britain already has at
her disposal. If we are compelled to
declare war with the number of YES
sells now available (62), to England's
274, we are still further reduced to one
fourth the number of our antagonist.
A careful review of our naval history
will reveal the cause of our moral
weakness at the crisis now confronting
us, is owing to the dilatory policy
which up to about twelve years ago
characterized our naval administration
If proper attention had been paid to
the rehabilitation of our navy twenty
to twenty-five years ago, as it has been
in the last decade, we would now be
in condition to cope with any maritime
power, as it would now be double or
triple the strength that it is, and
should have numbered at least l25 or
$50 vessels of the best type that Ameri-
can ingenuity is capable of putting
afioat.
Believing as much in true inter-
probation of the Monroe doctrine as
any citizen in the confines of our re-
public, and not wishing to act as an
alarmlst, yet, we consider that the
comparison of the navies quoted above
should be given due consideration by
those in authority before we plunge
ourselves into a fierce military strug-
gle when we are not by any means
adequately prepared for the successful
prosecution of the same.
CHARLES l.. SIMPLIFY,
Pikesville, Md.
Jan. 9Th, 1896.