The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-04


 and political stability, and are concerned and alarmed if any of them fall into industrial or political chaos. We do not wish to see any Old World military pow CT grow up on this continent, or to be compelled to become a military power ourselves. The people of the Americas can prosper best if left to work out thsir own salvation in their own way.
 % The Navy.
 The work of upbuildins the navy must be steadily continued. No one point of our policy. foreign or domestic. is more important than this to the honor and material welfare, and above all to the peace. of our nation In the future. Whether we desire 1t or not, we must henceforth recognize that we have in- ternational duties no less than interna- tional rights. Even If our flag were hauled down fin the Philippines and Porto Rico, even if we decided not to build the Isthmian Canal, we should need thor oughly trained navy of adequate size, or else be prepared definitely and for all time to abandon the idea that our nation is among those whose sons go down to the sea in ships. Unless our commerce Is always to be carried in foreign bot toms, we must have war craft to protect it. 7
 Inasmuch, however, as the American people have no thought of abandoning the path upon which they have entered, and especially in view of the fact that the building of the Isthmian Canal Is fast becoming one of the matters which the whole people are united in demanding, it Is imperative that our navy should be put and kept in the highest state of eff1ci- ency, and should be made to answer to our growing needs. So far from being in any way provocation to war, an adequate and highly trained navy is the best guaranty against war. the cheapest and most effective peace insurance. The cost of building and maintaining such navy represents the very lightest premi- um for insuring peace which this nation can possibly pay.
 Probably no other great nation in the world is so anxious for peace as we are There is not a single civilized power which has anything whatever to fear from aggressiveness on our part. All we want is peace; and toward this end we wish to be able to secure the same re- spect for our rights from others which we are eager and anxious to extend to their rights in return, to insure fair treatment to us commercially, and to guarantee the safety of the American people.
 Our people intend to abide by the Mon- roe Doctrine and to insist upon it as the one sure means of securing the peace Of the Western Hemisphere The navy offers us the only means of making our insist erce upon the Monroe Doctrine anything but a subject of derision to whatever na- ton chooses to disregard 1t. We desire the peace which comes as of right to the just man armed; not the peace granted on terms of ignominy to the craven and the weakling.
 Naval Training Necessary.
 It is not possible to improvise navy after war breaks out. The ships must be built and the men trained long in ad- vance Some auxiliary vessels can be turned into makeshifts which will do in default of any better for the minor work. and proportion of raw men can be mix ed with the highly trained. their short comings being made good by the skill of their fellows; but the efficient fighting force of the navy when pitted against an equal opponent will be found almost exclusively in the warships that have been regularly built and in the officers and men who through years of faithful performance of sea duty have been train ed to handle their formidable but com
  est efficiency. In the late war with Spain the ships that dealt the decisive blows at Manila and Santiago had been launched from two to fourteen years, and they were able to do as they did because the n nen in the coming towers. the gun tur- rets, and the engine-rooms had through long years at sea learned how to do their duty.
 Our present navy was begun in 1882. At that period our navy consisted of col lection of antiquated wooden ships, al- ready almost as out of place against modern war vessels as the galleys of AL ciblades and Hamilcar-certainly as the ships of Tromp and Blake. Nor at that time did we have men fit to handle a modern man-of- war Under the wise leg isIation of the Congress and the success full administration of a succession of patriotic Secretaries of the Navy, be- longing to beth political parties, the work of upbuilding the navy went on. and ships equal to any in the world of their kind were continually added; and what was even more important, these ships were exercised at sea singly and in squad rons until the men aboard them were able to get the best possible service out of them. The result was seen fin the short war with Spain, which was decided WlCn SUCH TAptuilN OcCduSc Ol thC tit- fniteIy greater preparedness of our navy than of the Spanish navy.
 While awarding the fullest honor to the men who actually commanded and man ned the ships which destroyed the Span- ish sea forces in the Philippines and in Cuba, We must not forget that an equal need of praise belongs to those without whom neither blow could have been struck The Congressman who voted years in advance the money to lay down the ships, to build the guns. to buy the ar mor-plate; the department officials and the business men and wage-workers who furnished what the Congress had author ized; the Secretaries of the Navy who asked for and expended the appropria- tiens; and finally the officers who, in fair weather and foul, on actual sea service, trained and disciplined the crews of the ships when there was no war in sight all are entitled to a full share in the glory of Manila and Santiago, and the re- spect accorded by ever true American to those who wrought such signal triumph for our country It was forethought and preparation which secured us the over whelming triumph of 1898. If we fail to snow forethought and preparation now, there may come a time when disaster will befalI us instead of triumph; and should this time come. the fault will rest primarily. not upon those whom the accident of events puts in supreme com mand at the moment, but upon those who have failed to prepare in advance.
 More Ships Needed.
 There should be no cessation in the work of completing our navy. So far ingenuity has been wholly unable to de- wise a substitute for the great war craft whose hammering guns beat out the mas - AL. inln Saas ia nnanfn nd