The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-12-05

PEACE. is on the best lighting ship Of
. his squadron.
Place of the Torpedo Boat.
After noting that the presidents judg-
ment, as set forth at that time, regarding
he place of the battleship in the navy
Is that of the naval experts today, the
secretary continues:
with respect 20 the place Of the tor
pedo boat, IL Is remarkable that no terms
! can be found i'm which to state present
conclusions with more clearncsS and pre-
/ CiSiOn than those employed in q report
Z by YOU more than SIX years ago (Febru-
( airy, 1898 while assistant secretary of
Secretary Morton then goes on TO quote
| from the presidents letter OF that date.
in the course Of which the president said /:
Nothing could be more foolish than
I the talk of substituting torpedo boats for
/ battleships and cruisers. Except when
, working at night or under conditions
which favor a surprise. the torpedo boat
is absolutely helpless against any sea-
going ship armed with rapid fire guns,
whether the ship be large or small, and
. under no circumstances is IL fit to do
rough work az sea or TO perform any Of
he duties taken aS a matter Of course
by regular sCd-going craft"
The secretary. continuing. says:
Schedule to Come Later.
'''rhe general board and the board Of
construction. after weighing the results OF
recent developments. have reached con-
illusions iu fun accord with those cN-
pressed BY YOU i'm the. paper above quoted
and schedule Of naval construction iu
harmony with these views Will be sub
mIttcd later.
The chief object Of our navy continues
Secretary Morton. is to prevent war. and
on this subject he quotes the chief OF
the bureau o. navigation as follows:
Although IL IS still too early to draw
maj conclusions rom The AFFAIR IN the
far east one cardinal military principle
has received rev and striking confirma-
ton: tngt is preparedness. and the swift
ness of action which can be successful
only with thorough preparedness. Readi-
ness for immediate action on the out
break Of wax requires that the whole field
SHALL have first been maturely considered,
aEd tl.t all probable operations and con-
/. lcEenCics shall have been suitably pro-
-idcd for down 10 The smallest detali
whose ncH5 can be foreseen-' He con-
tiades.
1T is cnly fair TO say the work now
being done b. thc general board, WITH
admiral Dewey at It's head, is directly
IN the line Of preparation for war and is
OF che greatest value
Vice Admirals Needed.
Secretary Morton says that our inter
ests i'm the far east and elsewhere have
become so important thai the navy should
nave one or more officers of nigh rank
available Tor service Wherever llelS pres
encc may be appropriate, and he concurs
in the recommendation # the chief OF
the bureau o. navigation thar provision
he made for two vice aGmiralS of The
navy.
Secretary Morton also concurs with the
cnjef of the bureau of navigation in the
opinion that officers of thC navy attain
command rank 100 late in lie. ana on this
SJbjCCt says: 1T IS no oisparaEement OF
The scni0. officers of .hc service to say
hat we should have younger meC in
command of our ships 10 time Or ccaCe as
well as III time OF war.
VI" -ec0AneudS that officers ot the
navy hc placed on The same footing as
officers Of the army with RESPECT 10
recognition for conspicuous rorftoriOus
conduct. and recommends two classes of
medals. one TO be given fCE acts of gal
lautry performed IN time of peace and