Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-22
FOR A STRONGER NAVY
Secretary Bonaparte's Address
in Baltimore Today.
AT JOHNS HOPKINS EVENT
Principal Speaker at University's
Notable Exercises.
COLLABORATING IT'S OPENING
Washington's Well-Known Axiom on
Peace Used as Text for a Note
worthy Appeal.
COLLABORATING ITS OPENING
Special Dispatch to The star.

BALTIMORE, Md. February 22.-Secre-
tary Bonaparte made the principal address
at the exercises in commemora ton Of the
opening of Johns Hopkins Univers ty,
which were held in Mccoy Hall this morn
ing, beginning at II O'Clock His fervent
appeal for a stronger uavy seemed to have
special significance in view of the OFFICE
admissions in Congress and elsewhere that
military Preparations are being made to
meet trouble In China.
Secretary Bouaparte took as his text
Wash.ngton's welI-known axiom, that the
surest way to make a good peace is to be
wei prepared for war and said that the
Injunction seems to have been more hon
ored in the breach than in the observance
AT FIRST sight" said Mr.. Bonaparta, the
American people appear to have shown Its
sense Of the truth of Washington's words,
not by obeying them, but in dsregarding
them, and paying dearly for tae dsobei Ii
ence. From oar birth as nation to the
present day We have had with us two very
undesirable classes Of national advisers on
this Subject-tECse who deem II 'enlight-
encd.' or humane or Christian to try to
persuade themselves and others that, con-
trayy to the order of human events, we will
or can forever keep at a distance those
painful appeals to arms with VIII ch the
history of every other nation abounds,
and those vino deem it statesmanlike and
national treasury. although boarding it now
may mean the spending of ten or Il hundred
in the near future.
More Misfortune Than Fault.
1T is perhaps rather our misfortune than
our fault that people such as these exist
in our midst. misfortune which, after all.
we share with all the rest of the human
race; hut It IS our fault-a fault often and
so~cIy punished-that we have ever listened
to such as they and forgotten what was
said by the great man whose birth we com
mcTorate today.
ut is not Easy to say which one of these
two classes may be the more mischtevouS.
hut there can he no doubt to which is
the more culpab BILE. The be levers or would
be believers in the possibility of universal
and uncuGirg peace have the same excuse
to offer which according to Sam Weller,
was urged Icy the gentleman who beat his
wife After all, my Lord pleaded this
culprit. its an am able weakness, and
they might. with some justice. say the same
thing The fatal vice of their theory is
that in Washington's language. it is con
trary to the order of human events or, IN
other words, could be sound only in that
Planet. suggested to exist by Mr.. Min,
where two and two make five. But the
visions Of their day-drelms are attractive,
even noble. and that spirit which makes
them enamored of-the world they see in
dreams in itself Is neither mean nor selfish.
HOOG economical 1OllCy-
mo such palliation can be reasonably
found for the course of those who would
cripple the national defenses in the name of
economy. 1t must be remembered, OF
course. that their policy not only differs
from. but is precisely opposed 10 that which
demands the strictest scrutiny of all public
expenditures and the severest condemnation
and punishment for all laXity in admins
trdtion or wastefulnes6 or graft To waste
public moneys is to my mind no less clearly
a crime than to steal them, but to prevent
or impede their expenditure when plainly
needed for purposes vital TO the national
safety and honor | hold criminal as
either. And. in this instance, there is no
room for belief on the part of any one.
however charitable in the sincerity of those
who. in the press or elsewhere, under pre-
text Of economy. clamor for parsimony
In provisions for the national defense;
whatever else their policy may or may not
lie, experience has shown, beyond doubt
caviI, that it is emphatcally not economy.
Need for Navy.
we need our navy to make and keep
ourselves such nation as Washington
hoped and believed we should become. TO
assure what he called the rank due to these
United States among nations, not as matter
OF vanity, but as needful TO our safety and
our credit. as at once the measure and the
sanction OF our national uulS TO HlaDAlHu.
ITO understand it's true utility AMI full
mission. however. we must constantly bear
in mind that II Is essentially a branch Of
the country's military strength: it exists
that 1t may fight if need be, and, 20 he
really useful. il must be sufficiently strong
and sufficiently prepared for its work, TO
meet at any moment any enemy it m ght
be, according to any reasonable probability.
called upon to encounter. We need such
navy because, again in the words of Wash
ingtCn. to secure peace II must be
known that we are at all times ready for
war
THE navy needs what 1t ought to have
and, indeed. must have to fulfil the ends of
its existence. to do It's work and to do this
well. In the first place ii needs money and
enough money. and this means great deal
Of money. for modern warfarce Is already
very expensive and grows more expensive
daily. An ample supply OF powder. rea-
sopable reserve of extra guns have become
therefore not merely desirable, but inds-
pensable to navy kept ready for war, and
powder and guns, although no longer lux
uries. are very expensive necessities.
For all these reasons, and many more
besides. an enlightened and patriotic pub
lie opinion will. feel confident stain the
legislative branch of our national govern
meut in a policy of discriminating and
tudicious liberality toward the navy; and
1t will also understand that the navy's
necessities cannot be fixed in advance (as
some newspapers have suggested by any