The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1906-12-04
THE NAVY AND ARMY.
Our Surest Guarantor of Peace Strong

The United States navy is the surest
guarantor of peace which this country
possesses. 1t is earnestly to be wished
that we would profit by the teachings
Of history in this matter. A strong
and wise people will study its own fail
ures no less than it's triumphs, for
there is wisdom to be learned from the
study of both. of the mistake as we'll
as of the success. For this purpose
nothing could be more instructive than
a rational study of the war of 1912 as
it is told for instance, by Captain
Mahan- There was only one way in
which that war could have been avoid
ed. If during the preceding twelve
years navy relatively as strong as
that which this country now has had
been built up and an army provided
relatively as good as that which the
country now has. there never would
have been the slightest necessity Of
fighting the war, and if the necessity
had arisen the war would under such
circumstances have ended with our
speedy and overwhelming triumph.
But our people during those twelve
years refused to make any prepare
tons whatever regarding either the
army or the navy. They saved mil
lion or two of dollars by so doing and
in mere money paid "a hundredfold for
each million they thus saved during
the three years Of war which followed
"a war which brought untold suffering
upon our people,. which at one time
threatened the gravest national disas-
ter and which, in spite of the necessity
Of waging it, resulted merely in what
was in effect a drawn battle, while the
balance Of defeat and triumph was al
most even. ~ ~
I do not ask that we continue to in
crease our navy. ask merely that
it be maintained at its present
strength. and this can be done only if
we replace the obsolete and outworn
ships by new and good ones. the
equals Of any af1oat in any navy. To
stop buildings ships for one year
means that for that year the navy
goes back instead Of forward The old
battleship Texas. for instance. would
now be of little service in a standup
fight with q powerful adversary. The
old double turret monitors have out
worn their usefulness. while it was
waste Of money to build the modern
single turret monitors. All these ships
should be replaced by others, and this
can be done by we'll settled pro-
gramme of providing for the building
each year of at least one first class
battleship equal in size and speed to
any that any nation Is at the same
time building. the armament presum-
ably to consist of as large number
as possible Of very heavy guns of one
caliber, together with smaller guns to
repel torpedo attack, while there
should be heavy armor, turbine en-
gines and, in short, every modern de-
vice. OF course from time to time
cruisers, Golfers. torpedo boat destroy
ers or torpedo boats will have to be
built also. All this, be it remembered,
would not increase our navy. but
would merely keep it at its present
strength. Equally. Of course. the ships
will be absolutely useless II the men
aboard them are not so trained that
they can get the best possible service
out Of the formidable but delicate and
complicated mechanisms Entrusted to
their care The craftsmanship Of our
men has so improved during the last
five years that deem 1t within bounds
ito say that the navy Is more than
twice as efficient. ship for ship, as half
a decade ago. The navy can only at
tain proper efficiency II enough officers
and men are provided and II these
officers and men are given the chance
(andi required tohtake advantage OF IT.
to stay continually at sea and to exer-
else the fleets singly and above all In