The sun., 1907-12-31
A Blow or the Hammer.

When Mr.. HENRY REUTERDAHL's arti-
Gle dealing with structural defects in our
battleships was published no one was
more incensed or sprang more quickly
to the defence Of the bureau system of
construction than the Hon. VICTOR II.
| METCALF, who was a practising lawyer,
member Of the House of Representatives
and Secretary Of the Department of
Commerce and Labor before ne became
Secretary Of the Navy. Mr.. METCALF
at once assured the American people
that they need have no uneasiness
about their fighting ships" because
ship for ship, gun for gun, our navy is
the equal il not the superior OF any in
the world" As for REUPERDAHL, Secre-
tary METcALF dismissed him contemptu-
ously as follows:
Here is a man who Is not a naval expert, who
has never attempted 10 construct q small part of
battleship snd who has commanded even
steam yacht 10 far hs any one knows. yet he says
to the American people that the ships OF their navy
are In such bad condition that they are not really
nShtInG machines at all"
This was putting it rather strong, but
MIR. REUTERDAHL will have TO consider
Mr.. METCALFs position as Secretary of
the Navy and make allowances for him,
because as such the structures of mere
civilian must have seemed intOlerable
20 him. But Secretary METCALF was not
the only official Of the Department to
despse REUTERDAHL as a critic. Rear
A ~ 90 ,e =
Construction, was much more terse and
COntemptuous: We are too busy build
ing ships TO reply TO fiction
Here we have the Secretary of the
Navy and the Chief of the Bureau of Con-
struCtiOn dispOsing Of REUTERDAHL in a
breath as an ignOramus and a rOmancer
Against such authorities and experts
he could not stand alone for a moment
and would soon be pulverized and the
dust of him blown away. Fortunately
for REUTERDAHL, however. it is possible
to quote the following testimony in his
favor:
81 have heard a lot about the charges made in
the article. will say this much. tba, RKUrKRDAHL
knew what he was talking about. There is little
in the article that isn't true. have copy OF the
magazine in my grip upstairs and have read It
carefully. l have OfhcialIy expressed myself ON
those matters to the Department a; the solicitation
OF the Secretary"
Now here Is a man-we refer TO him
who made this comment-who graduated
from the Naval Academy at the head of
his class, who has been president Of the
Naval War College, who is a gold medal
list OF the Naval Institute, who was naval
attach6 on the staff OF Lieutenant General
Sir GARNET WoLsRLEY in the Tel-el-
Kebir campaign. and who has COM
manded the Pacific squadron. He il still
on the active list-Rear Admiral CAsPAR
FREDERICK GooDRIcH, at present COM
mandant OF the New York Navy Yard.
II will be noticed that Admiral GOODRICH
says that he has Officially expressed"
himself TO Secretary METCALF on the
matters which Mr. REUTERDAHL deals
with in his article.
In a paper read before the Naval In
stitute not long ago Admiral GOODRICH
said: Nails are driven home only by
repeated blows Of the hammer" Il is
evident that there must be some pretty
sturdy blows OF the hammer OF reform
before the Secretary Of the Navy and
the bureau chiefs admit that there is any
thing wrong with the present system of
building warships.