Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1903-04-03
NOTHING BUT TALK.

1t Is very TRANCE that the recent ut.
tGances Of Admiral Dewey should be
taken seriously by anybody 1t hap
pened, accidentally Of course, that the
Admiral was a the head Of a large
squadron Of warshps and Unanswered
f. the Caribbean sea, at the very time
the allied European sQuadrons had
some business to attend to IN that re-
glon. Naturally the famous hero
Of Manila bay would make COM
rarisons and wonder what would hap
Pen, should ne ever be called upon
t. act again His reflections were sat
isfactory to him, and this he stated,
when he was pressed by a newspaper
reporter to say something, He said in
substance, that ship for ship, Uncle
Sam has the best navy in the world
that the maneuyers In the Caribbean,
Demonstrated The superiority Of our fleet
that they were intended chiefly as an
object lesson to Kaiser Wilhelm;
that the strength and efficiency Of the
German navy were overestimated and
that, finally the United States has
rothing to fear from that quarter.
The expression that has caused so
mach discussion Is that referring to
the intended object lesson OF course
Admiral Dewey should not have said
anything about the Intentions" Of the
United States government. for he Is
supposed to know nothing about "in.
tentions.' And If he was iudscreet
enough to speak as reported, the re-
porter and the newspaper are much
to blame for giving publicity to what he
said. Sailors are no statesmen. They
seldom weigh their words on the sensi.
tive scales Of diplomacy. Butnewspaper
men are supposed TO know something
about what is proper to print, anc
Whet is not In this free country they
are supposed to be intelligent enough
and patriotic enough to exercise that
censure which In some other countries
'r entrusted TO official censors If they
tail to do their duty in this respect,
they deserve public rebuke
But after all, what did it amount to?
Admiral Dewey explained 10 his superb
OTIS that what he said was never in
tended for publication That ought to
be satisfactory to all concerned, for If
It was not intended for publication, no
oflense YVES meant
But even if the Admirars utterauces
are admitted to have been offensive.
Germany has more than got even with
us. For Count Won Reyentlow is quot
ed in the Tageblatt as having said that
the German fleet could Smash Dewey's
heterogeneous assemblage. which had
not a single modern rmored cruiser"
The Count regards the American ma
neuyers as generally childish" and as
always resulting In defeats Of the hos
tile fleets the naval commanders there
fore, gaining large newspaper glory"
He refers to the poor workmanship
Of the West Indian fleet" to It's Insult
cient number Of officers and men," and
TO the 1ow morale Of the navy, as in
dlcated by the numerous desertions,
and says he believes the United States
win some day have q fine feet but
she has not one yet"
There After having annihIated
Dewey's squadron in this manner, and
relegated the entire American navy to
the iunkshop. there can be no war be-
tween the two countries on account Of
Deweys talk TO an inllscrcet reporter.
Peace is assured And our German
friends viii learn to attach no greater
significance to talk, than do the Amer
leans TO the occasional attacks made by
German authorities upon our Monroe
doctrine.