The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1903-04-22
WHAT GERMANS THINK OF
UNCLE SANS NAVY.
"A slouehy, UndrlHed Lot" Expresses
the Teutonie Idea.

olouchy, OnofHieo Lot Expresses
the Teutonie Idea.
"A slouchy. undrilled lot" That in
plain English expresses the heart to
heart view which German officer
gives his colleagues Of the wardroom
when he returns from a visit to an
American sh,p For the shadow Of a
linasinan is athvart ehe deck Of every
German man-of-war The supreme in.
fluence in the kalser's navy is that of
Won Moltke who built up the machine
that won the wars with Austria and
France.
If The German navy is the most stiff
fly military. ours is the least so. The
American 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 ramrod salutes.
writes Frederick Palmer, the famous
war correspondent. 70 Golfers Week
ly Our jackie looks as If he were at
home aboardship in the free sense of
the word The German seaman to the
American eye appears to be a soldier
afoat under Orders-an unthinklng
unit moved by mechanical impulse.
The German officer. forever drilling.
takes what he chooses to call our
slouchiness and democratic swagsor"
as sure indication of the ahss..ce Of
discipline So the average Gcrman Of
ficer still thinks that the onll OF OEr
men are renegade foreigners. with
this inharmonious lot in the forecastle
he observes disdainfully that we man
a ship with fewer officers than any
other navy in the world. In other
words, we depend more upon the men
and upon men VINO are not really
Americans. Against the Spaniards
'his was all very well; against a real
enemy the German thinks our crews
will be panicky
II the Germans are also proud of
their man behind the gun it IS with
the qualification that an officer shall
be at his elbow The man who thinks
for himself is regarded as much out
Of place as a driving wheel or any
cher part of machine with a mind
of its own. Why should he think for
himself? Can he think as well as the
officer who is trained TO do his think
ing for him?
The fame of Annapolis has spread
even as far as the Rhine. Where
the German sees his superiority here
IS not in his school but in the mater
ial from which we draw our officers
With us the candlestickmakers as
well as the senator's son may one day
raise an admiral pennant. provided
he shows himself worthy according to
our practices This is obnoxious to
any monarchical system--above all, TO
the German. Only a gentleman's son.
to their way of thinking. has the prop
Ier caste 70 make a good superior The
fact that our officers do not bow from
the hip or all cut the beard the same
way is further evidence TO the Teu-
tonic mind that they lack the "side
which a national prejudice may con
slider as being all necessary TO accu-
rate shooting
How can you have "systcm' without
ramrod salutes? II is system that the
germans pride themselves upon. Sys-
tenn made the foremost army of Eli
rope; system one day is 10 make Ger
many mistress of The sea The ex.
penditure Of appropriations for the
: Kaiser's navy has been entirely in the
hands Of experts. Ours have been
subject to congressional revision We
are continually changing our program
avs the German we go in fox sub
marines one year and for battleships
, the next The builders take their time
I to construct our menof-war; they and
not the navy department are the
,