The times., 1898-02-20

requisites of the officers. You can take
any man of intelligence. with an aptitude
Tor military service and a knowledge of
human nature. and make him a compe-
/ tent commander of a regiment in six
months. You couldn't make a naval cap
tain equally competent in six years. The
, modern naval officer is a growth. not
creation.
1t is entirely within the range OF
probability that band of men cOnspired
| to destroy the Maine. II is not impos-
/ sible that Spanish officials had cogni-
zance of their purpose. The work was
not difficult There are various WAYS OF
/ exploding torpedOes known to many per-
I sons besides those employed by govern
/ ments. 1t would have been easy to
launch a torpedo. say. a quarter Of a
/ mile from the Maine. and let the tide car
| ry il down to the vessel. When it lodged
against her il would have been touched
off without danger to the conspiratOrs.
The shock might have been sufficient to
explode the vessels gun cotton. or it is
possible that two torpedoes instead of oHs
were used
What should the Government do about
the matter?'
Investigate. Just as it is doing. And
if il Is established that the disaster was
caused by exterior violence. force Spain
10 explain why her Representatives did
not prevent it,
we need more lighting ships. We can
get them by purchase. Money talks. and
IL the United States will put up the
price it can get navy England would
probably sell us ships. or. il she wouldn't.
some other power would. Uncle Sam
ought to get ready TO defend himself.
then stop this Cuban affair without de-
lay.
I'VE haven't enough ships 10 protect
our Atlantic seaboard. Spanish man
of-war might do tremendous damage be-
fore one of our ships could engage him.
OF course. if the enemy would notify US
where he was going to strike We could
have vessel there to entertain him. But
he wouldn't be so obhging.
Our navy had a taste of that sort OF
thing during the civil war. The block
ade runners slipped in and out almost
AT will. We never succeeded in blockade
ing Charleston till we invested the inner
lIarbor. and even then we had 70 keep
a constant boat patrol at night.
IF il came to a battle between a Span
ish vessel and a United States ship of any
thing like equal class / haven't any doubt
as to the result. The immense superiority
of our officers would give us a tremen-
dous advantage. You i'll see IL we fight
that our ships VIII not waste any am
munition Our men know exactly what
our ships can do and how to get the re-
suits"
'Do you apprehend that the presence OF
large numbers OF foreigners among our
seamen would lessen the efficiency of the
navy?
Not bit OF il. We had great many
foreigners among the sailor men thirty
years ago. and they served as we'll as ma
tive Americans. They become disciplined
and grow TO regard their ship as their
country L wouldn't like to have any
Spanish sailors on a ship OF mine Just
now, but the other foreigners are all
right
How about the naval reserves?
II really can't form an opinion as 20
their efficiency. OF course. the more drill
ing they do and the more they learn
about sea fighting the more valuable they
will be as recruits if there is a demand
for recruits. I suppose the lake cities and
the seaports could furnish large number
of very useful men.
But what We need is navy. We might
have had it long ago too. but for the poll
ticians- They try TO keep expenses
down for fear they viii lose their Offices
And they have spent enough money try
ing to make navigabie streams out or
corduroy roads to have built navy. All
the average Congressman cares for Is 70
hold his job. aud he tries 20 do i BY
getting enormous appropriations fer his
community and fighting every eNpenoi-
ture for the benefit of thr whole country
OF course the fault may be finally ir;iced
to the people who encourage their law
makers in such a course.