Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-05


and righteousness, than for the free
and enlightened peoples which, though
with much stumbling and many Short
comings, nevertheless strive toward
Justice, deliberately to render them
selves powerless while leaving every
despotism and barbarism armed and
able to work their wicked will. The
chance for the settlement Of disputes
peacefully, by arbitration, now depends
mainly upon the possession by the ma
tions that mean TO do right of suffl-
cient armed strength to make tseir
purpose effective.
The Navy and Army
The United States navy is the surest
guarantor of peace which this country
possesses. It 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
failures no less than its triumphs, for
there Is wisdom to be learned from the
study of both, of the mistake as well
as of the success. For this purpose
nothing could be more instructive than
rational study of the war of 1872,
as 1t 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 n 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 preparations
whatever, regarding either the army
or the navy. They saved a million 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
threa tened the gravest national dis
aster, and which, in spite of the neces-
sity of waging 1t, resulted merely in
what was in effect a drawn battle,
while the balance of defeat and tri-
umph was almost even.
Replace Old Ships
I do not ask that we continue to
increase our navy. 1 ask merely that
it 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
building ships for one year means that
for that year the navy goes back in
stead of forward. The old battleship
Texas, for instance, would now be of
little service in a stand-up fight with
a powerful adversary. The old double
turret monitors have outworn 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 a well-settled program 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 presumably to consist
of as large number as possible of
very heavy guns of one caliber, to-
gether with smaller guns to repel tor
pedo attack; while there should be
heavy armor, turbine engines, and in
short, every modern device. OF course,
from time to time, cruisers, colliers,
torpedo-boat destroyers or torpedo
boats, will have to be built also. All
this, be it remembered, would not in
crease 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 for
rfidable but delicate and complicated
mechanisms intrusted to their care.
The craftsmanship of our men has so
improved during the last five years
that I deem it within bounds to say
that the navy is more than twice as
efficient, ship for ship, as half a decade
ago. The navy can only attain proper
efficiency If enough officers and men
are provided, and if these officers and
men are given the chance (and re-
quired to take advantage of it), to stay
continually at sea and to exercise 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 conditions that
will test Workmanship in time of war.
Maintain High Personnel
In both the army and the navy there
is urgent need that everything possi-
BILE should be done to maintain the
highest standard for the personnel,
alike as regards the officers and the
enlisted men. I do not believe that in
any service there is a 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 encouragement to the enlisted
men should be given, in pay and other
wise, and everything 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 encour-
aged which demands not the mere per-
formance of duty, but the performance
of far more than duty, If it conduces
to the honor and the interest of the
American 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 a
man who shall be above everything else
fighting man. In the army in par
ticular 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 1t confers.
Principle of Selection
But in both services there is urgent
need for the establishment of a prin-
ciple of selection which will eliminate
men after a certain age if they can
not be promoted from the subordinate
1T. 4..k. 4.