The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1907-07-12
OUR WASHINGTON LETTES.
WASHINGTON, d. c. July 6, 1907

has been announced officially by the
Navy Department., and it is a little cur
ious to see that on the very day of this
in Washington, Secretary |
Loeb at Oyster Bay was giving out an
authoritative statement" that no such
movement was contemplated. Now of
course the government would not keep
so important person as Secretary Loeb
in ignorance of it's intentions, and there
is but one inference to be drawn from
the incident, namely that it was a mis-
statement that might have been charac-
terized by 'shorter and uglier word"
If Secretary Loeb does not look out he
will get himself into the same class with
Assistant Secretary Of Stakeholder Bacon,
one-time partner in the firm of j. Z. Nor
gan s. Co. of New York. Assistant Sec
rotary of State Bacon is very wealthy
and fashionable young man and Is just
the sort of an understudy that Secretary
Root wants to take visiting princes and
other notables off his hands. But as a
source of transformation as to the things
that are going on in the State Department,
he has not heretofore been equalled. He
it was who gave out the famous state
ment lust after the Jamaica earthquake
that there was no friction between Ad-
miral Davis and Gov. Sweetenhan. The
same issue Of the papers that printed his
statement had all the correspondence OF
Admiral Davis and Gov. Sweetenham III
an adjoining column. Also the day news
was received Of the killing of the Japan
csc seal preachers on the Island OF st.
Paul, Mr.. Bacon announced to all callers
that the report was entirely unfounded
Though the telegram conveying the In
formation had just been sent to him by
the Department of Commerce and Labor
where the news was first received. Mr..
Bacon also announced three days ago
that the story of sending the battle ship
squadron to the Pacific was complete
fabrication. 1fSecretary Loeb is starting
in to emulate this record, he is electlng
to travel in swift company.
The journey of the battleships from the
Atlantic to the Pacific will be the great,
est naval movement ever attempted by
this government and only equa!led by the
i'll fated fleet that Russia sent to Japan
csc waters two years ago. The English
squadrons in their war games around the
British Isles, sometimes brings into play
more ships, but for the size Of the ships
and the length of the voyage, the move
ment has never been surpassed. There
were actually more ships Rogesvensky'
squadron when he went from the Baltic
to the Sea of Japan, but the squadron
went in two sections, took an inordinate-
~ long time making the voyage, and was
not the equal of the American fleet in
fighting power at any time.
The question of a route for the squad
ron has been discussed by the Naval
Board at some length and decision has
been made in favor of Cape Horn. The
route through the Suez Canal is about
| / 900 miles longer than the trip around
the Horn and beside this it would brin g
the squadron almost into Japanese wat
ers and would look little too much like
= studied defiance of the japanese pub
lie. Indeed, speaking guardedly, that is
what it is and the Japanese government
so understands and acquiesces in the
wisdom of the move. 1t is an in dication
to the people of the Pacific Coast what
| md viii ar in no
| way of protecting it's interests should it
become necessary, and it is an object les
son that the japanese jinge party can
watch from distance and ponder on.
For the first time in the history Of the
Navy, there has been hunger strike. :"
This sounds almost like Russia where the
sort of a demonstration. But in the
present instance, it is among the cadets
of the training ship Enterprise at New
London. A lot of the cadets went ashore
round robin and sent it to the command
er on board complaining of the fare that
was served them and ofsome other minor
matters of discipline. There was no no.
tice taken of their protest and they sent
two of their number out to the ship in q
small boat to see what was being done.
The commander CURLY sent them word
| that they could stay on shore OR come
back to the ship just as they had a mind,
but the most of them seemed to think that
coming back would mean their arrest and
no good done by the strike, so they stay
ed on shore all night. 1t is fairly posi-
BILE that the Navy Department may look
very unfavorably on this breach of dis
cipline and there may be some more va
cancies in the academy before the classes
reassemble for their winter studies.
The Postoffice Department this week
promulgated an order that will be a de-
cided convenience to the country popula-
ton. 1t provides simply for the trans
mission of special delivery letters by
special delivery stamp. Frequently
small stores and postoffices, especially in
the country, may not have any of the reg
ulation blue special stamps on hand.
But the new order provides that if ten
cents worth of sta mps OF any sort in add
IN tho reUular letter fee