Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1898-10-31
MONDAY EVENING. OCT. 81 1888.

NUN E4NtANNA' 49,
SECRETARY LONG of the Navy De
partment, has not spoken as often as
Secretary Alger, but if he were TO
speak every day in the week he could
make as big fool Of himself as lis as
soc;a;e in the Cabinet. He has done
his best. we admit. He has laid him.
self out to make Sampson the great ma
val hero of the war. Ee has rot sue
ceeded. He did indeed succeed in hav-
ing Sampson promoted over his seniors
and sent down to command the fleet IN
the Cuban waters, and Sampson, ac-
cording to his own account, demolish-
ed good many batteries. At Santa
90 he was so furious that one demolition
Of MORO was not enough for him. He
demolished the same battery over aud
DER again. He fought ell his battles
over again and then he slew the slain,
Perhaps the mystery of Cervera's mad
attempt to run away, may be explained
away. bv his natural desire to escape
this dreadful man. But Secretary
Longs fine plaus ell came 10 naught.
When it came to the 6ual work of de-
strovinp Cervera's feet, the Navy De-
partment's pet was mot in it," a man
nv the name of Schley was there, how
ever. aud at Manila there was man
usmed Dewey. Admiral Sampson out
ranks them both on the department
rolls. but he does not outrank them in
nnblic estimation. No amount OF de-
pertmental figuring can fool the people
on this point. But Secretary Long, al
ter some silence, has been heard from in
Music Hall, Boston. There are just
two bright ideas in bis speech. After
telling his company that it was Samp-
son that led at Santiago, ne informs US
that the two naval victories have
made the naval power OF the
United States master OF the sea.
If the Secretary is sincere in
Shis idea. he shows an incredible ignor-
auce of the actual situation. We ad-
wise him to turn to his own public de-
partment reports, printed by Congress,
or to any authentic sources OF informa-
ton. He will find then that OF the
great nations OF the world the United
States stand only fifth or sixth in naval
power. The British navy is FIVE or SIX
times as large as that of this country
The navy of France is two or three
times as large. The navy of Russia is
much larger. The navy OF Italy Is
larger. Even that OF Germany exceeds
our own. The United States rank
sixth, with Japan and Chill not far
behind. The case is even worse when
it comes to the naval programmes OF
the great nations. Those of England,
France and Germany are all on far
larger scale than the United States. As
for Japan, she is g little behind the
United States at present, but according
to Secretary Longs report, she will be
stronger than the United States in
1900. If anything were needed to re-
Enforce this view, it would be found in
the fact that vessel of war CAP be
built il Europe in less than half the
time it requires to build one in the
United States. How absurd, how su-
premely silly, therefore, for Secretary
Long. in the face of such notorious
facts, to be talking about the Q. 5. navy
being master of the seal Does he
know anything about the business OF
his department or is he only figure
head? His second idea is that he
ought to have seat in Congress in or
der to present in person the needs" OF
the navy. The greatest need of the
navy just now appears to be a
competent head of the department.
We advise him to keep silent, and,
if he wants to communicate with Con-
gress, to engage some bureau man to
write his letter.