Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1897-12-02
OUR NAVY.
Extracts from the Annual Report of
Secretary Long.

/ eXITdclS 1TOHL tut TGDUEp Ol
Hon. John ID. Long, secretary of the
navy:
| THE present effective fighting force of
| the navy consists of four battle ships of
| the first class, two battle ships of the Sec
| ond class two armored cruisers, 16 cruis-
ers, Is gunboats, six double turreted mon
| itors, one ram, one dynamite gunboat, one
dispatch boat one transport steamer and
| five torpedo boats. There are under con-
struction five battle ships of the first-class.
16 torpedo boats and one submarine boat
There are Ga other naval vessels, including
those used as training, receiving and naval
reserve ships, tugs, disused sngle-tur-
reted monitors and some unserviceable
craft. There is, further, the auxiliary
fleet. This consists. first, of more than 20
subsidized steamers which comply with
the requirements of the postal act of March
3, 1884, with regard to their adaptability to
naval service, and to an armament of main
and secondary batteries; second, of very
much greater number of large merchant
marine steamers, which can be availed of
at any time of need.
1.-THE country is to be congratulated upon
the results obtained in the rebuilding of
the navy. While it's ships are not as many
and it is not necessary they should be
as those of some other great powers, they
are. class for class, in power, speed, work
manship and offensive and defensive quail
tiles the equal of vessels built anywhere
else in the world
Attention is invited to the recomme nda-
ton of the chief of the bureau of naviga-
ton for the construction of a stern-wheel
boat OF light draft for patrol service on the
Yukon river 1t would essentially aid in
securing proper observance of the law in
Alaska. The appropriation necessary for
this purpose is estimated at $50, 900, and as
much more for the establishment of three
small posts at different points on the river
and for providing proper outfit for the Of
fcers and men.
"The efforts of the department to Amer
icanize the enlisted force of the navy have
been steadily pursued. and with this end
in view temporary enlisting stations were
established during the past summer in
number of lake cities and number of ex-
cellent men enlisted. The department in
tends to repeat this action in the southern
states, believing that similar enlistments
can be secured on the gulf coast. The rec
ords of the bureau show that of the 2,S45
petty officers in general service June 30,
1897, AZ per cent, were native born and SO per
cent. were citizens of the United States;
and of the $40 other men in general serv-
ice So per cent. were native born and 20
per cent were citizens of the United States
THE department has paid much attention
to the development of the naval militia
The appropriation of $4,000 for this pur-
pose, after deducting $1,000 for books of in
struction, was allotted among Is states
Massachusetts,, Rhode Island, Connecticut,
New York. New Jersey, Pennsylvania.
Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Georgia, Louisiana, California, Illinois,
Michigan and Ohio. The state of Ohio or
ganized a naval militia during the past
year, and was included for the first time
in the naval allotment. Illinois has mus
tered in four divisions and will share in
the next allotment. Virginia has organized
one division, but it has not yet been formal
ly mustered in. This makes total at the
present time of II states having naval
militia organizations. During the past
summer the assistant secretary of the navy
personally visited and inspected the naval
militia of Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and New
York in their annual encampments, and
in his report to the department states that
he was greatly pleased with the zeal and eff
ficiency shown by the different organiza-
lions. The different battalions all had a
tour of duty on board the vessels Of the
navy during the past summer except those
of North Carolina and South Carolina
"Our remoteness from foreign powers,
the genius of our institutions and the de-
Votion OF our people to education, COM
merce and industry, rather than to any
policy that involves military entangle-
ments, make war to be thought of only as
a last resort in defense of our rights, and
our military and naval establishments as
a police force in the preservation of order
and never for aggression. While all this
Is, therefore, an earnest of peace as the
normal condition of our national life, there
is no question of the necessity, the wis
dom and the economy, to the same end, of
an effective navy, in view of the vast ex-
tent of our coast and the possibility of
attack from the sea upon our great cities,
where the concentration of population and
property Is enormous. ......
1.-THE principal need of to-day Is that of
"a I
plorable lack; Of adequate supplies of the
munitions of war, which should never be
at the hand-to-mouth stage; of an equip
ment of our navy yards equal to the de-
mand upon them of the increased number
of our ships, and of an enlarged corps of Of
ficers and men to do the work.
THE department recommends that the
authorization of new ships by the COM
ing congress be limited to one battle ship
for the Pacific coast, where, after the five
now under construction are completed,
there will be only two, while on the At
lantic there will be seven; and also to few
torpedo boats and torpedo boat destroyers
both of which are comparatively of little
cost, and more of which are desirable in
order to bring this swift, mobile and handi-
ly effective arm of the service up to it's
place In the general scheme for coast de-
tense.
According to the reports of the paymas-
-
the navy during the fiscal year ended June
30, 1886, exclusive of it's increase and of per-
manent improvements at yards and sta
tions specially appropriated for, was $751;
494, S62O3 and for the fiscal year ended
June 80, 1887 ST., 514,23 Bib 1t appears, there
fore, that the expense Of maintaining the
navy is a growing one, as distinguished
from it's increase and permanent improve
ments, the cost of which varies from year
to year according to the judgment of con-
gress as to the desirability of these latter
items. Attention is called to this fact be-
cause the country should be under no mis-
apprehension as to the increasing cost of
maintenance. The building of ship is a
definite fixed expense, incurred once for ALL |
But to maintain it, to provide it with docks.
naval stations and other necessary ia
cilities, to man and equip it, to keep it in
repair-in short, to run the naval estab- |
lishment-iS and must continue to be q |
large charge on the public treasury, and |
for time, certainly an increasing one |
Economy Is necessary at large and in de- |
tall, not merely as a good theory to pro- |
claim, but as an actual practice to per-
form. With the best exercise of this virtue, |
expenses will be large in this, as in every |
other department of a government which |
represents the interests of a country so
vast as ours. But 1t Is believed that the
people, whose arm the navy is, and who |
evidently appreciate its potential useful
Il