The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-04

gency The officers and men alike should be pt as much as possible on blue wa ter. for 1t Is there only they can learn their duties as they should be learned. The big vessels should be manoeuvred in squad rons containing not merely battleships, but the necessary proportion of cruisers and scouts The torpedo boats should be handled by the younger officers in such manner as will best fit the latter to take responsibiIity and meet the emergencies of actual warfare.
 Every detail ashore which can be per- formed by civilian should be so per- formed, the officer being kept for his spe- cial duty in the sea service. Above all, gunnery practice should be unceasing. It Is important to have our nay of ade- quate size. but it is even more important that ship for ship 1t should equal in ef- ficiency any navy in the world. This Is possible only with highly drilled crews and officers, and this in turn demands continuous and progressive instruction in target practice, ship handling, squadron tactics and general discipline. Our ships must be assembled in squadrons actiVeiy cruising away from harbors and never long at anchor. The resulting wear upon engines and hulls must be endured; battleship worn out in long training or officers and men Is well paid for by the
 
 matter in how excellent condition, 1t Is useless If the crew be not expert.
 Trained Crews Needed.
 We now have seventeen battleships ap- propriated for, of which nine are com pleted and have been commissioned for actual service. The remaining eight will be ready in from two to four years, but 1t will take at least that time to recruit and train the men to fight them. It Is of vast concern that we have trained crews ready for the vessels by the time they are commissioned. Good ships and good guns are simply good weapons, and the best weapons are useless save in the hands of men who know how to fght with them. The men must be tralneo and drilled under thorough and We'll planned system of progressive ihs'ruc- tion, while the recruiting must be car ried on with still greater vigor. Every effort must be made to exalt the main function of the officer-the command of men. The leading graduates of the Naval Academy should be assigned to the combatant branches, the line and marines.
 Many of the essentials of success are already recognized by the General Board, which, as the central office of growing staff, is moving steadily toward proper the whole navy, under the Secretary. This General Board. by fostering the creation of a general staff, is providing for the official and then the general rec ognition of our altered conditions as a nation and of the true meaning of great war fleet, which meaning Is, first, the best men. and. second, the best ships. The Naval Militia forces are State or ganizat ations. and are trained for coast service. and in event of war they will constitute the inner line of defense. They should receive hearty encouragement from the general government.
 But in addition we should at once pro- vide for National Naval Reserve. or ganized and trained under the direction of the Navy Department, and subject to the call of the Chief Executive whenever war becomes imminent. It should be 2 real auxiliary to the naval seagoing
 peace establishment and offer material to be drawn on at once for manning our ships in time of war. It should be com- posed of graduates of the Naval Acad- emy, graduates of the Naval Militia, of- fcers and crews of coast-line steamers longshore schooners fishing vessels. and steam yachts. together with the coast population about such centers as life- saving stations and lighthouses.
 The American people must either build and maintain an adequate navy or else make up their minds definitely to accept a secondary position in international af- fairs, not merely in political, but in com mercial, matters. It has been well said that there Is no surer way of counting national disaster than to be ''opulent, az 1reqaiyp and lnarmPO.'