The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-04-23

1 placed in much the same position as Admiral Tcgo.
 After his victory at Manila he was advised Spain had dispatched a squad ron under Camara to wrest the Philip pines from his grip. He decided, as Togo probably has decided. to grasp the advantage of attack, and 1t was his intention to move with his entire | fleet to the southern Philippines and use scouts to locate the enemy and fall upon 1t with the same suddenness he | had shown at Manila. If Rojestven- sky Is wise, 1t is said by officers who know Admiral Dewey's plans, he will make straignte for the Japanese fleet and obtain the initial advantage of | the onslaught.
 Think what Japan would give for two or three battleships at this criti- cal moment" exclaimed the admiral. | Her national safety would be secure This is a thing we should take to | heart. We have done much in a mili- tary way to protect ourselves. What we must do now is the complete arm ing of ourselves upon the sea. It seems to me We should apply for our own | benefit the advice which Emperor William gave his people In q recent speech. Every German battleship,' he said, is q guarantee for the peace l Of the world, and the less ready will be our foes to attack us and the more valuable we will become as an ally "
 Wants Large Reserve Fleet.
 The admiral was asked to state how many battleships, in his judgment. would be required for the proper de- fense of the United States and its de- pendencies.
 "The program which the general board worked out contemplates the construction of forty-eight battle ships, not all in a lump, but two or three q year." he replied. The bat tleship is the main thing; all the rest are auxiliaries. It has been asserted 1t was the intention of the navy de- partment to keep all these ships in commission, and this would be an ex- pensive operation. Only part of the fleet would be kept in commission, and the others would he held in reserve. Every battleship Is in service or un- dergoing necessary repairs.
 Tt takes a long time to build a battIeship-at least three years It Is too late to begin the construction after a war has begun. Russia and Japan understand this fact today. But we with our vast wealth ought ot to let any sucn catastrophe overtake us"
 In this connection it may be said, although the admiral Is not authority for 1t, that the pauclty or battIeShipS has placed the United States today in an awkward strategical situation. If Germany or any other European power were to declare war against the United States 1t would be able to embarrass US greatly by putting it's own fleet between the American Asiatic squad ron, to which is attached three bat tleships. and the north Atlantic fleet. which includes eight battleships.
 In order to effect a junction of the battIeships, a first principle of war fare, they would have to meet at some | distant point in the Pacific, and ;n the meantime the enemy would have practically a free hand in the prellm- mary operations. Germany and Great Britian both have mObilized their bat tleships. the former several years ago. and the latter as one of the lessons it has learned rom the present war. Then general board of the navy would order the concentration of all Ameri- can battleships were it not that the withdrawal of vessels of this type might be interpreted as a determinat- ion on the part of the tnited States to lessen its activity in oriental affairs. To return to Admiral DeweN