The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-04-01

the uselessness of semi-armored craft, the picturesque figure of the new min ister of marine, M. Camille Pelletan, came into the arena and began to play ball with construction, navy regula- tions, discipline, and all that is funda- mental in naval life. M, Pelletan, pa triotic and bushy-headed threw over board the battleship principle and cre- ated tin-pot cruisers of high speed, ur- seaworthy submarines and general hysteria. He declared that all hands were equal, and that captains should be elected by their crews. He told the dockyard mates that they worked too hard, took away the parade uniform and the cooked hat of the officers and talked about the rights of man gener- ally. He meant we'll, but az autocracy is the keynote to naval life the disci- pline of the navy went to the dogs. The self-governed matelot would ask his captain, sans cooked hat, for g. match, or, rather, a cigarette. The old noblesse of the quarter-deck rebelled, but in vain. The democracy was up held by the Socialist minister and the negative quantity of brotherly love supplanted efficiency and hard train ing. Obedience became a farce, and ships began to Init the beach" with clockwork regularity.
 That the inner workings of the fleet should suffer was most natural. The maneuvres became less frequent, the target practice fell away, the dock yards became the prey of politicians, graft became rampant, and the great structure built upon the traditions of Suffern and Jean Bart fell to pieces as the victim of the political hysteria of Monsieur Camille.
 The strenuous efforts of his success sor, the level-headed M. Thompson, have abolished all of M. Pelletans ab- surditles, and put the navy again on a. military footing. He has taken the ad- vice of his sea-going officers. and has worked hard for new life. But 1t will be many years before the service can be measured according to English or even American standards.
 It can not be denied that the many accidents that have befallen the II GCIGIl IctNdI dElll Cdll DO traced to M. Pelletan's "brotherly love" No other navy has had so many accidents or lost so many ships of late as the French. The English have lost many, but their losses came in the "days work" during stress of weather which would have driven a Frenchman behind the breakwater and through practicing in maneuvres the risks that any captain has to take in war
 The wreck of the Sully, brand-new armored cruiser of some ten thousand tons, in the Bay of Along, February, 1905, was laid to an ''uncharted rock, 2 but many believe that the lack of talk ing proper soundings was the real cause. She became total wreck and broke in two. The sinking of the sub marine Farfadet, in the placid waters of Lake Bizerta, resulted in the death of fourteen men, and naval experts place the blame upon the commanding officer. The Brennus, an old battle- ship, went on the rocks not long ago. but was pulled off, On the cruiser Jean Bart, the crew mutinied while at Lorient, and later she went ashore on the northwest coast of Africa and be- came a total wreck. The many minor accidents of the French torpedo-boats and destroyers indicate that the sea going skill of their torpedo officers is not as great as one would expect, con- sidering the magnificent development of this arm of the French navy
 The explosion on board the lena on March 12, in the Toulon Arsenal which practically destroyed this ship and killed and naimed one-fourth of the crew-was undoubtedly due to gross earelessness. Had the ammuni- tion been removed from her magazines previous to entering the navy yard-a regulation which Is rigidly enforced in all nayies-the lena would be afoat to-day. Spontaneous combustion, due to the deterioration or chemical change in the smokeless powder may have been the initial cause of the explosion, which indicates that the prescribed ex- aminations of the powder charges were by no means requent.-Colliers.