The morning journal-courier., 1907-12-16
HE L1rEr s.lrLs.

7HE THEFT SAILS.
 It is not at all difficult, even though | one is not President of the United | States, to imagine in lively spirit what President Roosevelt's feelings will be to-day as he watches from the bridge of the MayAower the procession of battleships as they start on their long journey to the Pacific coast. What Admiral Evans calls practice trip was conceived by the President and is in scope and spirit thoroughly char acteristic of his world power views
 The feeling of pride in country which will be his as the immense float ing armaments pass him out to sea will be shared in by every citizen in the country, even those who question the Itimeuness or perhaps the necessity for
 such an endurance test of Inc ships
 and the men The people of this ooun- try are not so lost to the emotions
 which spring lightly to the surface of
 the human breast as to overlook the
 qualification of knowing that this is
 the greatest hattleship fleet the world has ever seen collected together and
 sent upon a journey As an achieve
 ment it appeals to everybody. Someone
 has said that it is the get there spirit
 of the American people that fascinates the onlooker in another country; the
 determination to succeed in what is
 undertaken even though it does not all
 together commend itself to all It is the
 get there spirit of this battleship cruise which has quieted what apprehension there was when the trip was first men, toned and 1t is the get there spirit , which will sustain the officers and men } until the fleet has been divided and re- turned to routine duty It has been demonstrated that what no other na- : ton on the face of the earth awo ' probably undertake is being VI .. en with the greatest conaG
 t ease by the United states s o.,,,,... .s e of it cannot fail to iBo Bon,r ,,o,.,.r.
 with the sense ogsf IVY" po"g'g' . " s1r,.t tsa {, ~ tleer is undertaking " lsal endurance for is no and has not been clear beyond the sin. gle fact of achievement along the lines [ suggested Admiral Evans in a speech before New York club assuring then that the navy will give a good accoun of itself added whether it turns ou to be a feast, fight or a frolic.' l is not likely to he any one of the three Such a trip as the battieshins have en tered upon can be neither feast no frolic, and it is not at all likely to b,
 a fight If there ever was q prospect Q
 fight the mobilization of this man
 moth fleet and its dispatch to the onl, d waters in which a fight was alone pos e sibe have elminatsa it It has beei e Q disagreeable thought that the Unite, . States had in any way so conducted f itself as to run the risk of a fight witt another nation but t is an agreeabl e thought that if conditions appeared { - place th8 country in that attitude i | was able to meet them with a sho, - of power This is and ought to be tn 0 most peaceful nation on the face O d the earth,Nand possibly it will remai k so because it possesses the tools whic II make peace sure even where the spirI ,- awakened is for war.
 V Whatever the mystery qs which lie { back of this impressive demonstratio W and whatever comes of the trial of en
 durance and the lesson of experience ,. only the most affectionate regard wi e go with the officers and men from tn II great American public. Here in tn v State of Connecticut the thought tha - the snip which bears its name lead it the way 10 the Pacific will be dwel d unon with increasing pride The frs ,t stete to give | written constitution t n the world is now tho first Statc to en
 joy the distlrction of blowing the wa
 to new and undreamcd of achiovc
 mcnts in naval strategy. "Tho HtI 't yellow spot on tho map winch wa ' tho Identification De Tocducyll!o gay l. it in hi7 remarkable book, has ric
 ned blood in it's veins and so has tn
 big white ship which bears its name.
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