The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-03-27
GERMAN OPINION OF OUR NAVY.
"A siouchy, UndriiIcd Lot" Expresses
the Teufoufc Idea

Frederick Palmer. in Golfers Weekly
"a slouehy unGrilled lott That in plain
English expressed the heaTt-to-heart view
which a German officer gives his colleagues
OF the wardroom when he returns from a
visit to an American ship. For the shadow
OF landsman is athwart the deck or every
German man-of-war. The supreme infiu-
ence in the KaiSers navy is that of Won
Moltke. who built UP the machine that won
the wars with Austria and France.
II the German navy is the most stiniy
military. ours is the least so. The Ameri-
can seamans nimbleness. his acuteness
and his energy do not make up. to- the
Teuton's way Of thinking. his deficiency in
automatic knocking together of heels and
raInrod salutes. Our jackie looks as II he
were at home aboardship in the free sense
of the word. The German seaman TO the
American eye appears TO be soldier anoat
under orders-an unthinking unit moved
by mechanical impulse. The German ON
Ger, forever drilling. takes what he chooses
to call ''our slouchiness and democratic
swagger' as sure indication Of the alb
sence of discipline. So the average German
officer still thinks that the bulk OF our men
are renegade foreigners. With this inhar-
monious lot in the forecastle. he observes
disdainfuliy that we man ship with
fewer ofrlcers than any other navy In the
world. In other woros, we depend moro
upon the men and upon men who are not
really Americans. Against the Spaniards
this was all very well; against real enemy
the German thinks our crews viii be pam
icky.
If the Germans are also proud OF their
man behind the gun, IL is with the quail
fication that an officer shall be at his elbow.
The man who thinks for himself is regard
ed as much out OF place as a driving-wheel
of its own. Why should he think for him.
sell? Can he think as well as the officer
who is trained TO do his thinking for himy
as far "a the Rhine Where the German
sees his superiority here is not IN his
school. but in the material from which We
draw our officers. With US the canalestick-
makers as well as the senator's son may
one day raise an admirals pennant pro-
vided he shows himself worthy according
TO our practices. This is obnoxious 10 any
monarchical -system-above all, 10 the Ger
man. Only a gentleman's son, 10 their way
of thinking. has the proper caste 10 make
a good superior. The fact that our omcers
do not bow from the hip or cut the oeaIo
the same way is further evidence 10 the
Teutonic mind that they lack the side
which national prejudice may consioer az
being all necessary 10 accurate shootlng.
How can you have system without ram
rod saiutes? IL is system that the Germans
pride themselves upon. System made the
foremost army of Europe: system enc day
is to make Germany mistress of the sea-
The expenditure of appropriations for the
Kaiser's navy has been entirely IN the
hands of experts. Ours have been subject
to congressional revision. We are contin-
ually changing our programme, says the
German; we go in for submarines one year
and for battleships the next. The build
ers take their time TO construct our men,
of-war: they and net the Navy Depart
ment are the bosses of the situation. We
have neither enough officers nor men 10
keep our ships i'm commission. In case or
war we should have TO put ships TO sea
with unframed crews-an unframed crew
being quite as bad none at all In Ger
man estimation. And here is claimed the
greatest advantage for the system The
Germans whipped the French. as all the
world knows, because they prepared for a
war with France in as business-hke way
as ST. Louis is now preparing 10 hold an
exposition. With the example OF great
standing army before them. they have made
a navy which is equally ready, they say
They point not only to the British navy,
where this weakness is certainly more ap-
parent, but also to ours. as wasting men
and money on ships that would be OF small
service for actual conflict. Our success In
1898 they count for little because Spain Is
regarded as a negligible quantity They
forget however, that in 1887 they thought
that Spain had chance Of winning
Such on the whole. is the opinion or
German officers and Germans generally. The
answers to their objections are too pail
pable to be reiterated TO an American read
err The German who has the highest opin-
ion of our navy Is no doubt the clever
Emperor himself. 1t was the works of an
American naval officer, Captain Mahan.
which he ordered for the library of every
one of his men-of-war. In conspicuous
place aboard his yacht, the Hohenzollern,
| is a picture of Admiral Farragut dashed
| to the rigging of the Hartford at Mobile.