The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-10-02
MUST BE CONTROL.
CONTINUED from Page One,

Continued from Page one.)
tween the Alleghenies and the Rock
les, yet it is of concern to the. rest of
the country also, for it can not too Of
ten be said that whatever is really
beneficial to one part of our country
is ultimately of benefit to the whole.
Exactly as it is a good thing for the
interior of our country that the sea-
ports on the Atlantic and the Pacific
and the Gulf should be safe and COM
modious, so it is to the interest OF the
jewellers on the coast that the inter-
ior should possess ample facilities for
the transportation of it's products. Our
interests are all closely interviewer,
and in the long run it will be found
that we go up or go down together.
Take, for instance, the Panama ca
nal. If the Mississippi is restored to
its former place of importance as a
highway of commerce, then the build
ing of the Panama canal will be felt
as an immediate advantage to the
business of every city and country dis
trict in the Mississippi valley. I think
that the building of that canal will be
of especial advantage to the states
that lie along the Pacific and the
states that lie along the Gulf; and yet,
after all, 1 feel that the advantage will
be shared in an only less degree by
the states of the interior and of the
Atlantic coast. In other words, it is a
thoroughly national work, undertaken
for and redounding to the advantage
of all of us--to the advantage of the
nation as a whole.
The Work in Panama.
Therefore 1 am glad to be able to
report to you how we'll we are doing
with the canal. There is bound to be
a certain amount of experiment, GER
tain amount of feeling our way, in a
task so gigantic-a task greater than
any of it's kind that has ever hitherto
been undertaken in the whole history
of mankind; but the success so far has
been astonishing, and we have not met
with a single one of the accidents or
drawbacks which / freely confess 1
expected we should from time to time
encounter. We, in the first place,
laid the foundation for the work by
securing the most favorable possible
conditions as regard the health, COM
fort and safety of the men who were
to do it; and now the canal zone is in
point of health better off than the av-
erage district of the same size at
home. Then We. went at the problem
of the actual digging and dam build
ing. For over a year past we have
been engaged in making the dirt fly in
good earnest, and the output of the
giant steam Shovels has steadily in
creased. 1t is now the rainy season,
when work is most difficult on the
Isthmus, yet in the month of August
last we excavated over million and
two hundred thousand cubic yards or
earth and rock, a greater amount than
in any previous month. If we are
able to keep up substantially the rate
of progress that now obtains we shall
finish the actual digging within five
or six years; though when we come to
the great Gatun dam and locks, While
there is no question as to the work be-
ing feasible, there are several elements
entering into the time problem which
make 1t unwise at present to hazard a
prophecy in reference thereto.
Now, gentlemen, this leads me up to
another matter for national considera-
ton and that is our navy. The navy
is not primarily of Importance only to
the coast regions. 1t is every bit AS
much the concern of the farmer VINO
dwells a thousand miles from sea water
as of the fisherman who makes his
living on the ocean, for it is the con-
Germ of every good American who
knows what the meaning OF the Word
patriotism is. This country is def1nite-
ly committed to certain fundamental
policies-to the Monroe doctrine, for
instance, and to the duty not only of
building, but, when it is built. or
policing and defending the Panama
canal.
Need Big Navy.
We have definitely taken our place
among the great world powers, and it
would be a sign of ignoble weakness,
having taken such a place, to shirk its
sponsibilities. Therefore, unless we
are willing to abandon this place, to
abandon our insistence upon the Mon
roe doctrine, to give up the Panama
canal, and to be content to acknowi-
edge ourselves a weak and timid ma
ton, we must steadily build up ana
maintain a great fighting navy. Our
navy is already so efficient as to be
matter of just pride to every American.
So long as our navy is no larger than
at present, it must be considered as an
elementary principle that the bulk of
our battle fleet must always be kept
together. When the Panama canal Is
built it can be transferred without diff
fculty from one part of our coast TO
the other; but even before that canal
is built it ought to be thus transferred
to and fro from time to time. In
couple of months our fleet of great
armored ships starts for the Pacific.
California, oregon and Washington
have a coast line which is our coast
line of New York and Maine, of Louisi-
ana and Texas. Our fleet is going to
its own home waters in the Pacific. and
after a stay there it will return to its
own home waters in the Atlantic. The
best place for a naval officer to learn
his duties is at sea, by performing
them, and only by actually putting
through a voyage of this nature.
voyage longer than any ever before I'M
dertaken by as large fleet of any ma
ton, can we find out just exactly what
is necessary for US to know as to our
naval needs and practice our officers
and enlisted men in the highest duties
of their profession. Among all our
citizens there is no body of equal size
to whom we owe quite as much as TO
the officers and enlisted men of the
army and navy of the United States,
and I bespeak from you the fullest ano
heartiest support, in the name of our
nation and of our flag, for the services
to which these men belong.
A Business Proposition.
In conclusion l wish to say a WORD
to this body, containing as it does
many business men, upon what is pre-
eminently business proposition, and