The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-01-07
CONGRESS MUST LISTEN.

After the official statement now is-
 sued by the Navy Department in re- gard to the absolute supremacy of the battleship over all other types of war
 vessels no member of Congress can be
 justified in refusing to listen to the re-
 quest for an appropriation for the im-
 mediate construction of mora of those
 naval fighting machines for our Gov
 ernment's use. The statement comes
 from the General Board Of the Navy,
 of which Admiral Dewey is President,
 and the main point made in it is that 1 the superiority of the battleshfp has
 been fully demonstrated in the Russo
 Japanese war. It would not lie with any
 member of Congress to question the correctness of the judgment of these
 experts even if 1t were not also the i conviction that has been expressed by
 other experts beth in this country and
 abroad and that was supported by our
 own experience in the Spanish War, l There was a time when there seemed some reason to doubt the efficacy of the battleship in modern warfare, when it was thought by many that even if 1 there were not a larger field of use fitness for cruisers of the more for midable type the development of the l torpedo boat, especially in the sub marine form, had vastly reduced the
 battleship's value. But such views have not been substantiated by recent ] events. We can all recall how disap- 1 pointed the torpedo craft were in the orerations in Cuban waters a few years
 ago; and it has been repeatedly shown I in the present. war in the Far East that the big battleship, heavy armored and heavily gunned, is a navy's main strength. As our naval experts now of- | ficially inform Congress, not one of the Russian cruisers at Port Arthur was able to score hit, while of the Jap 1 anese torpedo boat attacks nearly all met with complete lack of success. al- 1 though made, as usual, under cover of darkness and against an enemy at an- chor and whose position was known" If we are to have a really strong Navy therefore, it is absolutely neces- sary that it contain liberal number of the highest powered battleships, with which craft we are at present but
 poorly supplied. The officials of the Navy Department have asked Con-
 gress for money to build more, and as the case now stands Congress has no
 right to deny the request so long as
 the required funds can be found. The policy of maintaining a strong Navy has been too fully approved by the people to leave Congress any choice in
 that respect. Its only duty is to provide,
 so far as possible, the means for build
 ing up strong Navy; and in discharg- ing that duty it must simply follow
 the advice of the experts. It is unper- missible for the average member of
 Congress. with no more than the ordi- nary citizens knowledge of naval af- fairs, to set up his opinion against the
 board over which Admiral Dewey pre- sides. He cannot properly say that so far as he can see expensive battle ships might be dispensed with; the ex- perts who are employed by the na- ton to ascertain and tell us what is needed have put in an order for bat
 tleships; the only duty of Congress in the premises is to honor the order if the funds are obtainable.
 There is an old-fashioned notion that a Congressman is somewhat of free agent in matters of this sort, that he may decide for himself what to do with such a request as the Navy De- partment has now put tn. But that is theory of congressional power which can no longer be generally accepted. In modern extension of governmental functions to more or less unfamiliar fields it has become increasingly ne- cessary to employ expert advice, and, with that comes, of course, the obligation to accept it. There are still some among us, both in Congress and out, who seem not to understand this, who apparently think that they have as good right as anybody to opinions as to what should be done in the Philippines. for example, or what form naval expenditures should take. But we should have a blundering Government indeed if these men were allowed to guide it. The affairs of an expanding nation, with interests and responsibili- ties covering an enormous and varied area, cannot be successfully adminis- tered by methods that worked we'll enough in an old-fashioned New Eng land town meeting.
 We have sent special commissioners to the Philippines to ascertain and tell us our duty there and how to go about it; and Congress ought to follow their advice without more question than may be raised by their standing as men of intelligent observation and .n11.,d il1du,a1nl,+ MA lil-c.xr,iee