The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-08-24
PRACTICE SHIP ASSURED.
sANANNAETS NAVAL RESERVES
WILL HAVE 4 MONITOR.

Assurance From the Assistant score
tary of the Navy That "A Training
ship VIII He Given SaVnnnah-In-
terView With Lieut.. COIding Con-
corning the Need of One-FuII Dis
patch From Washington Giving
Authoritative Information Com
corning the Position of the Navy
Department.
Savannah is sure to have a practice ship
from the United States navy for the naval
reserves Of the city. Such assurances
come direct from Assistant Secretary Of
the Navy Roosevelt who has taken a
great interest in the progress of the work
which has been accomplished here by the
officers of the Savannah reserves. 1t is
not yet settled whether the Passaic which
is the monitor Brunswick's reserves now
hold, shall be taken away from that COM
mand of the Georgia naval militia, or
whether a new practice ship shall be sent
TO the Savannah divisions It is certain,
however, that the excellent work that
has been done by the Savannah Naval
Reserves is going to be rewarded and
encouraged by the department of the
navy.
Assistant Secretary Roosevelt of the
navy says that he thinks Savannah's two
divisions ought to have a practice ship
and he will see to it that they are encour-
aged. 1t has never been the intention of
the officers of the Savannah reserves to
make any warfare upon Brunswick. They
simply have held to the position that the
Savannah naval militia needs a practice
ship and ought to have one if devotion to
their work counts for anything. Savan-
nah is the largest port on the South At
lantic coast, and has the largest command
of naval militia, and there seems to be
nothing but fairness in the attempt to Sc
cure practice ship
The officers of the Amphitrte made a
good report on the work of the Savannah
reserves to the department of the navy,
and this has Interested the assistant sec
rotary very much. When The Amphitrte
was in this port the Savannah company
had just been organized. Since that time
there have been two divisions organized
here and the reserves have made wonder
full progress. Even at that early stage the
officers of the Amphitrite reported The
biStl pune Is tAceilenl in view OF the snort
time elapsed since the company was or
gained The officers give prom Sc of be-
coming very efficient. The personnel is
promising"
Lieut. Colding was seen last night by a
Morning News reporter and shown the
dispatch from Washington which reports
favorable news from the Assistant Sec
rotary of the Navy. He said This is
very gratifying and will be a great en-
Couragemcnt to the members of our ma
val reserves. Up TO this date we have
worked along with no particular encour-
agement. We have gone to work and or
ganized two divisions of naval militia and
we can greatly strengthen these with a
little more encouragement. f our efforts
were such as to cause the commander of
the Wilmington to recommend the taking
away of the Passaic from Brunswick and
giving il over to us, we feel that we owe no
apology to Brunswick for this determina-
ton on the part of the Wilmingtons Of
fcers. We only know that we have the
best command of naval mi
Htia on the South Atlantic
coast and we intend to keep
it up to its present high standard Savan-
nah is naturally the place for the prac-
ice ship, if only one is to be given 10
Georgia. No reasonable man can argue
to the contrary, when he has seen the
commands of naval militia along this re-
gion Of the coast There can be no is
sue on TINS. We have two tull divisions.
No other port in this region of the south
can show a command as well equipped
or as fun in its muster our men are
thoroughly interested in their work and
we mean business. That is the whole
story. We appreciate what the naval or
fcers who have observed our work have
had to say Of us. II is encouraging, AMI
each member of our divisions here feels
n greater pride in his work by reason of
such approval