The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-10-14

TILL the leading nations of the world
 appear to have been seized during S V recent years with perfect mania for adding to their fleets of fighting ships. Nor has national patriotic ambition in any case been satisfied by mere increase in the number of floating fortresses. Larger, more powerful and more heavily armed warships have been demanded, un- til the sums expended upon new naval craft are such as would have appeared unbelievable a few years ago.
 The United States has not been one whit behind her sister nations In pursu- Ing this policy for the upbuilding of il powerful navy. If anything, she has been ahead of her European rivals. for. where as some of the Old World powers have larger navies than the one to be found under the Stars and Stripes, there is no government beyond the Atlantic that is now adding to its steel-cad warriors of fhe sea so rapidly as is Uncle Sam.
 Time was, and not so very many years ago, either, when the United States was pretty near the foot of the list of prin, cipal naval powers, but the phenomenal development of the American Navy dur Ing the past decade has enabled the re- public to advance beyond Japan, Italy, Russia and Austria, and stand in fourth place in this international contest. Great Britain. with navy equal to the com bined fleets of any three other nations, would appear to be secure in first place for long time to come; France Is second and Germany third.
 But in making this comparison the statistics take account only of the war ships that are completed, ready for use, or In commission. If all the vessels build Ing for the various navies could be com pleted simultaneously and new census of fighting strength taken, the status of things would be changed, for the United States would then be in third plaee-and not so very far behind France-whereas Germany would drop back to fourth place. The secret of this is found, of course, in the number of new warships Miss Co., 1umbia has under construction. Measured in tons, the standard currency of naval and shipbullding parlance, the United States has under way at the present time . considerably greater aggregate of new naval construction than Great Britain. and as much as France and Germany com bined.
 " iS uOL lhr HuhiDti oi new hS SplluS ships which Uncle Sam is building. but their weight and power that is sending this nation upward in the scale of naval Importance. To illustrate, It may be ex- plained that there are in the United States Navy something like 2I0 vessels fl for service, whereas the new ships build ing number less than 30. yet these un- completed men-of-war, together with the lately finished craft which have gone into commission during the past few months. we'll nigh equal in aggregate tonnage the couple of hundred armed craft which up- held our rights on the high seas after the close of the Spanish-American War.
 The United States, alike to most other progressive nations, is firmly committed 10 the policy of building warships of The heaviest class, carrying guns of the gren'- est power and protected by the thicKsst armor. The war with Spain taught our professional fighting men that the battle ship is easily pre-eminent among all Laval craft, and the lessons of the Russo-Japa- nese conflict but confirmed this couyie- ton. The deadly torpedo craft and the fleet cruisers. in which nearly excrzIhlng- Is sacrificed to speed. assuredly nave their place in the scheme of naval exist snce but it Is in the heavyweigh.s of the seas that reliance must be placed for tss decision of issues between nations.
 Uncle Sam's preference for the thick ssinned ships that can give and take hard blows is evidenced by the fact that nearly every one of the numerous ships which have been added to the Navy drr- ing the past year or two has been q first elass battleship or else an armored cruis.