The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1906-05-23
Irony of Building the Big
gest Warship On Record
As Preliminary to the
Peace Congress
IMMENSE COST OF WAR
NAVAL FIGURES THAT PROVE
THE ECONOMY OF PEACE =
SUBMARINE WASTE-wANT OF
POWDER FOR SHIPS.

WASHINGTON, May %, 19o6.-Nfil-
itarism has failed at all times to be
taken seriously by this country. Jingo-
ism is always popular. The crowniEg
performance of the jingoes is the provis-
ion for building S1o,0oO,o0o battfeship
to be the largest in the world. as pre-
liminary to the international peace con-
gress.
Subtle and childlike are the ways Of
the jingo politician Too well he knows
the patriotism of the average American
not to use it for his purposes. Is there
a schism in the party. he tells of the
great prosperity which the party and
Providence have together conspired to
produce for the people Is there disaf-
fection among the colored voters. tell
how the party abolished slavery. Past
| glories and achievements are usually q
reliable means of arousing enthusiasm,
and if you can stir up enough patriotism
and get the crowd hollering loud enough
they may forget what the issues of the
campaign are.
IF we could only have a little foreign
war to get the minds of the people off
| this reform idea, sighed a prominent
member of Congress, in my hearing not
long ago.
With no war in sight, | suppose the
next best thing is to stir up as much
excitement as possibxle by getting ready
for one.
Little as any one in this country fears
niEtarism and small, comparatively, as
are our naval and military operations. it
costs US more than a third of a billion
dollars year to pay the cost of past
wars and make preparations for war.
This years expenditures on account of
wars past and prospective will be more
| than twice as much'as The estimated cost
of completing the Panama Canal The
country talks of that explait with bated
breath. Compared wins our naval ex-
peHses it is but bagateile. The last
Congress spent more.6er. the navy alone
than it will take to finish the big ditch.
When the naval vessels now IN course
of construction are completed the tnnual
cost of maintenance will be upward
S76, 900. .000, 600.
The submarines have been probably
| the most absolute waste Of Iaoney the
navy has ever made. We've set a Aeet
of about eight er nine, and not one Of
them has ever sheNR itself acapabie of
doing anything that would be of any
always a question whether they will
come up again. They have killed a lot
of men. but only by smothering them by
their cranky performances. incidentally,
| there have been more man killed in the
navy since the Spanish war by accidents
1 of one sort or another than there were
killed in the navy during that war. OuE
warships are dangerous. whether in war
| or peace.
Speaking Of the submarines, the
| scheme of giving the old crowd of polite
clans of the Electric Boats Company an
other million to bnildSseme more Of the
| hopeless things we now have in the navy
went through the House much more
smoothly than the Submarines themselves
| usually work. One thing the exposure
| of the clever little splet totshut. out Inc
ventor HOLLAND from any part in the com.
petition in the building Of this new lot Of
divers brought about was having the
time of competition extended. Unless
the Senate changes it. submarine manu-
/ facturers will have a year to submit
boats for approval to the Secretary oi
| the Navy If Holland can get clear OF
| the litigation in which he is involved this
| may give him chance to compete. II
| he has anything worth while to put into
competition, as he claims to have The
original scheme was to have closed the
competition in six months. which would
have shut him out entirely.