The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1907-12-19

Baltimore Sun

7 Baltimore sun
I The canal report of the secretary Of
the nayyis a reminder of the high cost
! of imperialism. Ii the United States il
TO be an empire, with widely diseonnec.
ted possessions, it must be prepared to
protect them and the only effective agency
for the protection of distant islands is a
strong navy. After the close of the war
between France and Prussia there was a
race among the powers of Continental
Europe to increase the strength OF their
armies until the military establishment
became staggering burden upon the
taxpayers. England, D.. rea-o OF her
insuiar position, was exc.,pt i.'om this
necessity. But England has her shores
to protect and islands and continent
possessions in every quarter OF the globe
to be guarded. L has been her ira
ditional policy to maintain navy SUI
ficient to overpower the combined nayies
of any two European nations. This she
has been enabled to do because of her
exemption from the cost OF such great
armies as those of Germany, France and
Russia. At the present time the effective
warship tonnage of England is nearly as
great as that of all the other great pow
ers OF Europe combined; that is to say,
OF France, Germany, Russia, Italy, and
Austria. The question OF the future is
whether the United States will finally
aspire to rival England as a naval pc wer.
At the present time the effective war-hip
tonnage of the American navy is Gill;
GIG tons. being nearly double that OF
Japan, largely in excess OF that Of Ger
many and only inferior among the navies
OF the world to that OF England.
nj ha nf Drst Oh,
amounts to the enormous figure Of L.
633, JIG tons. To rival that vast feet
wonld take many years OF construction
aud an almost incalculable treasure.
And in the meantime England is building
Jew SHIPS at a much faster rate than we
are. 1t also has the advantage of being
able to build battleship and pat it in
commission in less than half the time
that it requires an American shipyard to
build one, and for less money During
the last fiscal year no less than nine new
battleships OF the first-class-15,0 900 and
10000 tons-have been added to the
United States navy, besides four armored
cruisers, increasing enormously our naval
strength. Two more battleships and
two more aTmored cruisers will soon 90
into commission. and six other battle
small craft are under construction OF
the battleships now building two, the
Delaware and North Dakota, are to be
20, OOUtons displacement, with q speed
Of n knots. They will be as powerful
as the vessels OF the Dreadnaught type
III the British navy. and, in respect to
the arrangement of the turrets and guns,
superior to them.
The recommendation OF Secretary
Metcalf is for an expenditure of 800 30
900 Tor construction to be authorized at
this session oil congress. This recon-
mendation includes four great battle
ships OF the Delaware type, to cost So
800 900 each; four scout cruisers, to cost
S2,3OO,OOO each and about 20 other
other vessels. In the eager competition
OF nations in battleship building the Uni
ted States cannot long maintain the sec
ond place, the secretary declares, unless
liberal Expenditures for more ships are
authorized now so as to keep pace with
the rapid construction by Germany and
France. France is now building 10 bat
tleships OF IA, 800 and 1880 tons DIS
placement, 4 armored cruisers of 1850
and 13,64 tons and feet Ofdestroyers
and submarines. Germany builds each
year two battleships, those now build
ing being OF $4,000 tons; l armored
cruiser protected cruisers, II destroy
ers and number of submarines. Her
estimates for 1907 were about S25 .OOO.-
900 for construction.
II the United States is to engage in
war ship construction at the rate of
nearly S70,O00,OO0 a year, as suggested
by Mr.. Metcalf our navy will soon far
outstrip that OF any other country, ex-
cept England, and will be large enough
to haze a fleet in the Pacific without
leaving the Atlantic seaboard defenseless.
Old fashion people may look back with
regret to the good old days when the
United States was merely q republic.
and not an empire; but il the majority
OF Americans favor imperialism, they
must be prepared to accept all the conse-
qnenees which imperialism involves. One
OF those consequences is a navy large
enough not only to protect this country
from attack, but to defend it's distant
possessions. We cannot have one with
out the other. 1t costs more money to
be a world power than to be a simple
republic, and if the new generation of
Americans prefer the pomp and circum-
stances of Imperialism to the old order
OF things, they must not grumble at the
bills -
Looks as if Prosperity was getting
hf. conorI