The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1904-12-07

pedo destroyers are indispensable,
and fast lightly armed and armored
cruisers very useful yet that the
main standby, in any navy worthy the
name must be the great battleships.
heavily armored and heavily sunned.
Not a Russian or Iapanese battleship
has been sunk by a torpedo boat, or
by gunfire. while among the less pro-
tected ships. cruiser after cruiser has
been destroyed whenever the hostile
squadrons have gotten within range
of one another's weapons. There will
always be a large field of usefulness
for cruisers, especially of the more
formidable type. We need TO Increase
the number of torpedo boat destroyers
paving less heed TO their having a
knot or two extra speed than TO their
capacity to keep the seas for weeks,
and if necessary, for months at q
time. Ii is wise 10 build submarine
torpedo boats as under certain cir
cumstances they might be very use
| full But most of all We need TO con-
tinue building our fleet of battleships,
| or ships so powerfully armed that
they can inflict the maximum OF dam
age upon our opponents. and so well
protected that they can suffer a Sc
we're hammering in return without
fatal impairment Of their ability TO
figh: and maneuver. OF course ample
means must be provided for enabling
the personnel of the navy TO be
brought to the highest point of eftic-
iency. Our great fighting ships and
torpedo boats must be ceaselessly
trained and maneuyered in squadrons,
The officers and men can only learn
their trade thoroughly by ceaseless
practice on the high seas In the
event of war it would be far better to
have no ships at all than to have ships
of a poor and ineffective type, or
ships which, however good. We're yet
hammered by unframed and unsl1ill'
full crews. The best officers and men
in a poor ship could do nothing
against fairly good opponents; and on
the other hand a modern warship is
useless unless the officers and men
aboard her have become adopts in
their duties The craftsmanship in
our navy has improved in an extrao"-
binary degree during the last three
years. and on the whole the types Of
our battleships are improving, but
much remains to be done Sooner or
later we shall have to provide for
some method By which there will be
promotions for merits as we'll as for
seniority, or else retirement of all
those who after a certain age have not
advanced beyond certain grade:
while no effort must be spared to
make the service attractive 10 the en-.
listed men in order that they may be
kept as long as possible in IL Reser-
walton public schools should he pro-
yided wherever there are navy yards,
The Army.
Within the last three years the
United States has set an example IL
disarmament where disarmament was
proper BY law our army is fixed at
maximum of one hundred thousand
and a minimum of sixty thousand
men. When there was insurrection in
the Philippines we kept the army at
the maximum. Peace came in the
Philippines and now our army has
been reduced 70 the minimum at
which 1t is possible to keep it with
due regard 10 its efficiency. The guns
now mounted require twenty-eight
thousand men, if the coast fortified.
tons are 10 be adequately manned,
Relatively to the nation, it is not now
so large as the police force Of New
York or Chicago relatively to The pop.
llaticn of either city We need more
officers; there are not enough to per-
form the regular army work 1t is
very important that the officers Of
the army should be accustomed to
handle their men in masses, as IL is
also important that the national guard
Of the several states should be accus-
toned to actual field maneuvering. es.
pecially in connection with the regii-
lars. For this reason we are to be
congratulated upon the success of the
field maneuvers at Manassas last fall,
maneuvers in which larger number
of regulars and national guard took
part than was ever before assembled
together in time of peace. No other
civilized nation has, relatively to its
population such diminutive army as
ours and while the army is SO small
we are not TO be excused if we fail
70 keep it at very high grade of pro-
ficiency, II must be necessarily prac-
ticed; the standard for the enlisted
men should be kept even higher
which, as regards the upper ranks,
can best be done by introducing some
system of selection and rejection in
to the promotions. We should be able,
in the event of some sudden emer-
gency, to put into the field one first
class army corps which should be,
as a whole. at least the equal of any
body of troops of like number belong.
ing to any other nation
Great progress has been made in
protecting our coasts by adequate
fortificatfons with sufficient gins We