Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-12-06

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.
l do not ask that we continue to in
crease our navy. ask merely that
| 1t be maintained at it's 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 afloat 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 standup
| fight with powerful adversary. The
old double turret monitors have out
i worn their usefulness, while it was a
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 it's present
strength. Equally, of course, the ships
will be absolutely useless if 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 intrusted to
their care. The craftsmanship of our
men has so improved during the last
five years that deem it within bounds
to say that the navy is more than
twice as efficient, ship for ship, as half
decade ago. The navy can only at
tain proper efficiency if enough officers
and men are provided and if these
officers and men are given the chance
(and required to take advantage of it)
to stay continually at sea and to exer-
else the fleets singly and above all in
squadron the exercise to be of every
kind and to include unceasing practice
at the guns conducted under condi-
tons that will test craftsmanship in
| time of war.
Maintain High Standard.
In both the army and the navy there
is urgent need that everything possible
should be done to maintain the highest
standard for the personnel alike as re-
CARDS the officers and the enlisted men.
l do not believe that in any service
there is finer body of enlisted men
and of junior officers than we have in
both the army and the navy, including
the marine corps. All possible encour-
agement to the enlisted men should be
given in pay and otherwise and every
thing practicable done to render the
service attractive to men of the right
type. They should be held to the
strictest discharge of their duty, and in
them a spirit should be encouraged
which demands not the mere perform
ance of duty, but the performance of
far more than duty if it conduces to
the honor and the interest of the Amer
lean nation, and in return the amplest
consideration should be theirs.
| West Point and Annapolis already
turn out excellent officers. We do not
need to have these schools made more
! scholastic. On the contrary, we should
never lose sight of the fact that the
aim of each school is to turn out q
man who shall be above everything
4 else fighting man. In the army in
particular it is not necessary that either
the cavalry or infantry officer should
have special mathematical ability.
Probably in both schools the best part
of the education is the high standard
Of character and of professional morale
which it confers
But in both services there is urgent
need for the establishment of prin-
ciple of selection which will eliminate
men after a certain age if they cannot
be promoted from the subordinate
ranks and which will bring into the
higher ranks fewer men and these at
an earlier age. This principle of Sc
lection will be objected to by good men
of mediocre capacity who are fitted to
do well while young in the lower DO
sitions, but who are not fitted to do
well when at an advanced age thew
come into positions of command and
of great responsibility. But the de-
sire of these men to be promoted to
positions which they are not competent
to fill should not weigh against the in
| terests of the navy and the country.
At present our men, especially in the
| navy. are kept far too long in the
| junior grades and then, at much too adj
| q rn nj i,1-1r