The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1901-12-05
The inA-

lne-Allh
The president ursts the continued up
building Of ,he navy as means of per-
forming our .Ets rEa;. oral duties as well as
q protection and SAFE guard for our inter-
national rights He urges that our place
as first-class power nece estates the
building and maintenance OF a navy in
| keeping with our place among the nations
of the world. ard says
so far from beinC Il any way provo
cation to war, an adequate and highly
trained navy is the hes: guarantee against
war, the cheapest and most effective peace
insurance. The cost u. building and main
tanning such a navy .-eseEts the very
lightest premium Tor ; ;T;Shr.Eg. psace which
He recommends both The construction
| of more ships and the addition of more
| officers and men as absolutely necessary,
and says:
There should be no cessation in the
work of completing our navy. So far in
genuity has been wholly unable to devise
a substitute for the Preat war craft whose
hammering guns beat out the mastery Of
| the high seas 1t Is unsafe and unwise
not to provide this year for several addi-
I tional batteships and heavy armored
cruisers, with auxiliary and lighter craft
In proportion. For the exact number and
character / refer you to the report of the
secretary Of the navy. But there Is some
thing we need even more than additional
ships, and this Is add t!onal officers and
men. To provide aatteships and cruis-
pectation Of leaving them unnamed I'M
til they are needed in actual war would
be worse than folly. 1t would be crime
| against the nation.
ITO send any warship against compe-
! tent enemy unless those aboard II have
been trained by years Of actual sea serv-
ice, including 'incessant gunnery prac-
toe, would be to invite rot merely dis
aster. but the bitterest shame and humil-
iation. Four thousand additional sea-
men and thousand additional marines
should be provided and an increase in
the officers should be provided by making
large addition to the classes ae~Annap-
oils There is one small matter which
should be mentioned in connection with
Annapolis. The pretertious and unmsan-
ing title Of laval cadet should be abol-
ished: the title Of 'midshipman.' full OF
historic ASSOCIATION. should be restored.
ated for, Of which nine are completed
and have been commissioned for actual
service. The remaining eight will be
ready In iror tw ,s to , four years but i
train the men to fight them. 1t is Of vast
concern that we have trained crews ready
for the vessels by the time they are COM
nissioned. Good ships and good guns are
simply good weapons. and the best
weapons are useless save In the hands Of
men who knew how to fight with them.
The men mus. be trained and drilled un-
der a thorough and well-planned system
of progressive instruction, while the re-
cruiting must be carried on with still
greater vigor. Every effort must be made
to exact the main function OF the officer
the command OF men. The leading grad
yates of the raval academy should be as
signed to the combatant branches. the
line and marines"
The Army.
No increase In the regular army IL
deemed necessary at this time. but there
are several changes in that branch Of the
government service which the president
recommends TO congress. Chief Of these
10 the establishment OF a STAN department
And of this he ann