The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-06-25

Yards from Maine to California were
kept busy for the fleet last year. One
hundred and sixty millions pounds Of
steel wero accepted for warship use. AL
most twenty ships. from frst-class bait
tleships to torpedo boats, have been
launched In the year just ended.
That navy costs the people Of the
United States an annual sum that mikes
the share OF each inhabltant OF the
country a little more than 81
Have True American Sailors.
or the total enlisted FORCE OF 2e,321
men, 80 per cent are native born. Only
six years ago, the Secretary OF the Navy
had been forced to report that the orewa
OF American wnrships were composed
largely OF foreigners" n
What kind OF Americans arc these
sailors Of 1867 S5
Hcre Is an answer IN financial terms
that any one can understand,
Some time ago Congress authorized
tho paymaster Of ship to recetve money
from the sailors on deposit, and pay s
per cont interest on It. Money 30
deposited ia forfeited to tho government
II tho deposition deserts. tsl CIV g.
In the year ending in June, 1904, tho
sea1nen Of the fleet deposited @57b. o9k
One might almost call that q bond Of
| moro than bali q million dollars put bJ
the nations sailors to guarantee thai
they will stiok by the ship. is5 st3ayss Y
Big as our naval expenditures were in
the last fiscal years. the average Of thu
last three years almost one-third al high
as Great Britain 8, ten millions more than
Russia. four millions more than Franco
and twenty millions more than Germany,
| yet tho administration Of the department
| may Justly be called economical Thai
ITEM usually 80 dubious In civil lists. 4
I5"salarles ana expenses does not amount
to one per cent OF the entire expenses
In tho Navy Budget. The money Ia
spent for ships. guns ana men and not
for clerks and sealing wax.
That it isn't badly spent may be de-
duced from the simple fact that of the
102 ships bought In mad haste at the be-
ginning Of the Spanish War. eighty fivt
are still on the list and In active service
despite the fact that the government
could exercise only very little control over
the officers detailed to buy them. OF
tho remaining seYenteen ships. the Merit.
mac was sunk In front Of Santiago. two
| were wrecked, and five are serving tina
! War Department as transports, That
only leaves nine ships that didn't turT
] out permanently useful. 8 $
The 2s5 vessels Of all kinds carried or
| the active lists by name do not comprise
all that there Is OF the floating element
OF the fleet. There are 100 coal barges.
13 ammunitlons lighters. II water barges,
SO lighters CT all kinds, and 20 cascoes,
which are Filipino boats captured and
bought In the Philippines.
In addition to all these are the small
boats, launches and sailing and rowing
cutters carried by each ship. There ara
more than fifteen hundred OF them.
The Naval Organization.
The system that cares for ana uses all
these craft has an Admiral at the head
=,
Then follow in order OF rank 3S8 cap
tains. 122 commanders, 1919 lieutenant
commanders. 843 lieutenants 173 ensigns.
104 midshipmen. IS medical directors. IL
medical inspectors. SO surgeons
go assistant surgeons. 1856 pay
directors, inspectors and De paylnas-
ters. q 8chnplalna u professors Of
mathematics, 81 naval constructors and
| assistants 80 civil engineers, lao boat
SWANS, ZIG gunners. 81 carpenters. 8
| chief sailmakers, $50 maohinists and Sc
| pharmacists. 5
The great defect in this organization
ut present Is that the promotions aud
retirements arc too slow. III AS q result
| our warshlp captains average higher In {
| ago than those OF any other great power
II Professor Ossler could get control, no
would choroform them nll for the aver
age age OF the captains Of our battlesMps
| last year was fHty-seyen years.
| In the English and German navies the
average age Of the battleship commanders
| Is forty eight. and the average age Of
tho captains OF tho five heaviest Japanese
| ships In tho fight In the Sen OF Japan
was forty-five and three-quarter years.
The Gunnery of Our Men.
Much has been printed about the fine
gunnery OF American sailors. OF course.
| most Of this has come from purely Amer
lean sources. official and unofficial. To
| prove that the American view OF 1t Is
not an exaggerated one. the writer has
examined Spanish and German reports OF
| the operations during the Spanish-Amerl-
can War, and finds the following refer-
| ences to American gunnery In sources
none OF which can be suspected OF flat
| terry,
Lieutenant jose Y. Tejeiro, the second
in command OF the local Spanish naval
| forces OF Santiago. said In his report:
"On the night when the cruiser Reina
| Mercedes was sunk the hostile ships
fired on her with the same accuracy
as II 1t had been daytime"
The same officer reported that during
one OF the commandments the American
ships to the east Of the harbor were
firing at the Mercedes. and though she
was hidden from them by the hui Of the
Socapa, she received thrty-five shells
In her rigging and hull, which caused
two fires to start AT this time. too,
large calibrs shells fell all around the
Maria Teresa and the Yizcaya.''
These hombardments. Ii must be res
membered, were under the most unfay-
orabe conditions, for the American ships
had orders not to approach the Spanish
batteries, and tho Spanish VESSELS were
anchored under the protection OF the land,
SO that only glimpses OF them could ba
caught.
Commander Jacobson OF the German
cruiser. Geier. which was almost con-
stant,y on the scene OF the Cuban naval
operation. will be accepted as a witness
who does not lean to the American side,
rs every one will know who remembers
the attitude OF official Germany toward
American ut the time. III
"rhe Union need fear no comparison
with other nations SO far ms personnel
is concerned" no reported to berlin.
~ do not want to be misunderstood and
do not mean to give the Impression that