The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-06-10
A PROGRESSIVE POLICY
As to Naval and Military Affairs
Should Be Followed.
GATLING AND THE REPORTER.

relied gun which bears his name and who
has been giving good deal of his time ro-
Gently to tho perfection of the new single
piece heavy gun of which so much has
been said in the newspapers.
DIR. Gatling will be 80 If he lives until
next September, yet he is still hale and
hearty, his hand grasp Is firm, his eye
clear, his nerve steady and his physical
strength so well conserved that he Is
abundantly able to spend hours each day
ut the office of the Gatling Ordnance COM
pany, 32 Broadway.
DIR. Gatling is one of those who believe
firmly that the United States must either
take complete possession of the Philippines
and Puerto Rico as well as Cuba during
tho present war and must, moreover, hold
them permanently or else step far back In
the procession of the nations.
George Washington was one of the
greatest men who ever lived" said the
doctor today, "and his views as TO the
proper policy for the United States were
exactly suited to the times In which he
lived. But George Washington never saw
locomotive or steamboat. He died In
1899 and the first vessel TO be navigated by
steam was not set a1oat until 1908. In
Washington's day ocean navigation was
carried on exclusively by sailing vessels
and separation from Europe by 5000 miles
of water meant practical isolation from
the world. His views were in perfect ac-
cord with existing conditions Were he
alive today his views and advice would be
in as perfect accord with present condi-
tions
Plea For National Up to Dateness.
"Hc would understand what so many
Americans have been unable to see with
out war-that the policy he outlined, so
well suited to the infant republic Of the
eighteenth century, is not mt all suited to
the great, progressive nation that domi-
mates the western hemisphere in the nine
teenth and that inability or refusal to
change means ruin. He would read Alright
the signs of the times, and he would an-
derstand that only by being permanently
prepared for war can the United States
hope to hold its own with the strong ma
tions of Europe. He would see clearly
that In the tremendous evolutionary strug
giles of the future only the fittest among
nations, as among persons, can survive
and that to be fit nation must bo well
armed with trained soldiers and naval
men, with the best guns that can be made,
strongest forts that can be built.
'Ho would understand--nonc better
that the views till recently so influential
In the conduct of this governments s army
and navy affairs and falsely supposed to
be In harmony with his famous no en-
tangling alliances injunction indefinitely
followed out would lead to national death,
and he would have fought with all his
IN tn1iffarapen raOor6infr
coast defenscs and kindred topics, the re-
suit of which might have resulted i'm dis
aster had we found it necessary to fight a
first class power instead of Spain"
DIR. Gatiing and the Reporters.
Like most men who have accomplished
things, DIR. Gatling talks freely to news
paper men and believes heartily In the
power and usefulness of the press albeit
he has two or thrco times suffered from
pens that were unduly cxuberant. Hero
is an example,:
Once when no was living in New
England city, where he was well acquaint-
cd with tho local journalists, one of them
published big article descriptive of DIR.
Gatling's life and inventions.
"Tho article was entirely compliment
tary," said the doctor Indeed it made
me out to bo ono of the greatest geniuscs
Of the age. / forget how many successful
inventions the writer placed to my credit,
but the number was unheard of. More
over, he declared that l was constantly
making new ones and that spent hours
every day experimenting in little build
ing which he described in detail that stood
back of my house and which he termed
shop.
"Thc description OF this little structures
exterior was perfectly accurate but IL was
used as henhouse and not as shop, and,
besides, was not at that time engaged in
pcrfccting any now invention. However,
j shouldn't have minded the article had
its inaccuracies gone no further than 1
have indicated. But one of its paragraphs
gravely stated that had just completed
an ice machine-icc machines were then
I'm the experimental stage-with which l
could make Ice at 13 cents n ton.
"Now, as matter of fact, had never
given n thought to tho making of artificial
ice, but the article was written with such
detail and such an air of truth that 10 was
generally taken TO be true and accordingly
copied into newspapers all over the coun-
try Why, believe received at least 200
letters of inquiry about that imaginary leo
machine, from would be investors, scicn-
tiflc men, hotel keepers and others. And
tho worst Of Il was that lot Of these let
ters contained stamps. which made 10 nec-
cssary for me TO answer them.
Practical Joker's Victim.
On another occasion DIR. Gatling was
the victim Of n practical joke, though 10
was intended that acertain reporter should
t''ho only sufferer.
This reporter was possibly n littlc
"frcsh," nt all events tho clerks ot the ho-
tel at which the doctor was then staying
seem to have thought so, and when no
asked to bc directed to "Gatling tho gun
man" pointed out some ono else. This
individual, who was necessarily In the
Joke, was an entirely different man In ap-
pearancc from DIR. Gatling. lie was bald,
whereas the doctors hair Is still thick. Ho
was short and stout, and the doctor,
though well built, Is tall and inclined TO
he slender His nose was pronounccdly
aquiilnc. which the doctor Is not, and he
was dark. while the doctor Is fair.
OF course the deluded reporter Inter.
viewed" the supposed Calling at length,