The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-12-07

AEmenians have been the victims, and which have won for them the indig- nant pity of the civilized world.
 Rights of American Citizens Abroad.
 Even where 1t is not possible to se- cure in other nations the observance Of the principles which we accept as axio- matic, it is necessary for us firmly to insist upon the rights Of our own clti- zens without regard to. their creed or race; without regard to whether they were born here or born abroad. It has proved very difficult to secure from Russia the right for our Jewish fellow citizens to receive passports and travel through Russian territory. Such con- duct is not only unjust and irritating toward us, but it is difficult to see it's wisdom from Russia's standpoint No conceivable good is accomplished by it. If an American Jew or an American Christian misbehaves himself in Rus sia he can at once be driven out; but the ordinary American Jew, like the or dinary American. Christian, would be- have just about as he behaves here, that is, behave as any good citizen ought to behave; and where this is the case it is wrong against which we are entitled to protest to refuse him his passport without regard to his conduct and character, merely on racial and re- ligious grounds. In Turkey our diffi- culties arise less from the way in which our citizens are sometimes treated than from the indignation inevitably excited in seeing such fearful misrule as has been witnessed both in Armenia and Macedonia.
 The Navy.
 The strong arm of the government in enforcing respect for it's just rights in international matters is the navy of the United States. I most earnestly re- commend that there be no halt in the work of upbuilding the American navy. There is no more patriotic duty before us as a people than to keep the navy adequate to the needs of this country's s position. We have undertaken to build the Isthmian canal. We have under taken to secure for ourselves our just share in the trade of the Orient We have undertaken to protect our citizens from improper treatment in foreign lands. We continue steadily to insist on the application of the Monroe doc- Urine to the western hemisphere. Un- less our attitude in these and all simi- lar matters is to be a mere boastful sham we can not afford to abandon our naval programme Our voice is now potent for peace, and is so potent be- cause we are not afraid of war. But our protestations upon behalf of peace would neither receive nor deserve the slightest attention if we were impotent to make them good.
 The war which now unfortunately rages in the far east has emphasized in striking fashion the new possibilities of naval warfare. The lessons taught are both strategic and tactical, and are po- litical as well as military. The expe- riences Of the war have shown in con- elusive fashion that while sea-going and sea-keeping torpedo destroyers are indispensable, and fast lightly armed and armored cruisers very useful, yet that the main reliance, the main stand by, in any navy worthy the name must be the great battle ships, heavily ar mored and heavily gunned. Not a Russian or Japanese battle ship has been sunk by a torpedo boat, or by gunfire, while among the less protected ships, cruiser after cruiser has been de- stroyed whenever tt ostile squadroris have gotten within range of one anoth- CTS weapons. There will always be a large field of usefulness for cruisers, es- pecially of the more formidable type. We need to increase the number of torpedo-boat destroyers, paying less heed to their having a knot or two ex- tra speed than to their capacity to keep the seas for weeks, ands if necessary, for months at a time. 1t is wise to build submarine torpedo boats, as ul- der certain circumstances they might be very useful. But most of all we need to continue building our fleet of battle ships, or ships so powerfully armed that they can infiict the nlaxl- mum of damage upon our opponents, and so well protected that they can suffer a severe hammering in return without fatal impairment of their abil- ity to fight and manoeuver. Of course ample means must be provided for erl- abling the personnel of the navy to be brought to the highest point of efficierl- oy. Our great fighting ships and torpe- do boats must be ceaselessly trained and manoeuvered irl squadrorls. The officers and men can only learn their. trade thoroughly by ceaseless practice on the high seas. Tn the event of war it would be far better to have no ships at all than to have ships of a poor and inefficient type, or ships which, howev- CT good, were yet manned by untrained and unskilled crews. The best officers and men in poor ship could do noth- ing against fairly good opponents; and on the other hand a modern war ship is useless unless the officers and men aboard her have become adopts in their duties. The marksmanship in our navy has improved in an extraordinary de- gree during the last three years, and on the whole the types of our battle- ships are improving; but much re- mains to be done. Sooner or later we shall have to provide for some method by which there will be promotions for merit as well as for seniority, CT else retirement of all those who after cer- tain age have not advanced beyond a certain grade; while no effort must be spared to make the service attractive to