Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1901-09-19
THE NAVY DEPARTMENT.


Massachusetts, President Mckinley was
desirious of appointing Mr.. Roosevelt to
some important position. 20 hc was offered
the assistant secretaryship of the navy.
After great deal of d"liberation, Mr..
Roosevelt accepted.
From the very day he set foot In office
Mr., Roosevelt, or Colonel Roosevelt, as he
is now called began to take hold of things
In manner which surprised most of the
old officials Of tho department. and tn"
naval officers as we'll He rcorganized the
force OF clerks In his office, making pro-
motions when he thought necessary, AID
reductions as we'll lie was man of the
greatest activity. and made many changes
for the good Of the service person who
Visited Nh Roosevelt while assistant sec
rotary of the navy always found d zen
or more congressman. and persons W no
We're waiting for chance TO gain an audi
fence with him, He treated all his callers
alike, always pleasant ana polite to them
all In fact, Mr.. Roosevelt made fri,nus
with everyone with whom he came in con-
tact during his term of office. He accom-
pliShed a great many things which at that
time seemed but trivial matters, but after
some time had elapsed il was shown by
the developments that h. had used great
Judgment and foresight. and whatever
h" dld always proved Of benefit to the navy
department.
ono of the greatest things for which Mr..
Roosevelt received the thanks of the Am
eriCan people while assistant secretary Of
the navy was the fitting ont OF Admiral
Dcwey's squadron Of shius lust after Il
had been ordered to Manila II was Mr.
Roosevelt who made all the preliminary
arrangements for the transports, and or
dcred supplies, ammunition, clothing, etc.
for the men. The secretary of the navy
and the other heads of the bureaus wanted
to wait and send supplies, etc, after Adj
mi T. had gtl tal
but Roosevelt insisted on the immediate
fitting out Of the Admiral's squadron and
Mr.. Roosevelt. in great measure, is re-
spOnsible for the victory az Manila. for If
he had taken the advice of the department
and neglected to supply Admiral Dewey =
ships with ammunition, the result might
have been far more disastrous to tho
United states, For this act alone MIR.
Roosevelt received the thanks Of the
nation.
Another great work accomplished by
MIR, Roosevelt while connected with the
navy department was the adoption OF
system OF drilling the various squadrons,
which were stationed along the eastern
coast OF the country. He established a
regular system Of practice drilling among
the crews of the different war vessels. 1t
was he who inaugurated the system of tar
get practice, and on one occasion, he gave
orders to a fleet Of vessels which was lying
In tho harbor Of Hampton Roads to pro-
ceed TO sea under sealed orders. Every
body thought the ships were going direct
To Havana, but when the orders were
opened ana read II was found that the
assistant secretary had only started the
vessels ON target practice. lie had prev
iouSly provided quite large amount Of
ammunition on board tho vessels, and a
large sum or money was expended shooting
az Imaginary ships, when the fleet return
ca to Hampton Roads, some members of
tAe APPROPRIATIONS committee of tha