The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1907-07-19
OUR WASHINGTON LETT Err.

seems likely TO De the excuse lOT more
expen ditures on behalf of the navy. Of
course, no one begrudges the navy all
reasonable facilities, and it is good
thing for the country to be fully prepar
ed for emergencies at all points. But
this thing of having two coast lines, each
as long as the average continent to pro-
vide for promises to be an expensive
business. The complaint is now made
that when the battleship squadron is
transferred to the Pacific Coast there will
not be snough docking facilities for it on
the western edge of the country. There
is an immense dock at Bremmerton and
another even larger at Mare Island, near
San Francisco. Also there are several
private docks that the warships can have
the use of on the same terms with mer-
chant vessels. But this is said to be in
adequate, and the Navy Department is
making plans for additional docks on the
Pacific Coast to add another item of
large expendtur to the next naval APP
preparation bill. A curious instance of
the economy with which expenditures Of
this sort have been made in the past is
shown in connection with the Mare Is
land dock. This has been under con-
struction for six years, and has been TAX
en- out of the hands of the original con-
tractors because they were too slow with
the work. 1t is approaching completion
now, and is very fine dock, but it ap-
pears that it has been located so far from
| deep water that the larger vessels cannot
get at it, Therefore, there will either
have to be another dock built or an ex-
pensive channel dredged to open up the
way to the existing dock. One might
think that this feature of the situation
would have been discovered sometime
within the last six years. But apparent
ly it has just come to light. Truly it is
glorious thing to have big navy ade-
quately provided for and mighty expen-
sive thing as we'll.
| The navy is much to the fore these
days, and it is interesting to see ourselves
through foreign eyes in respect to our
national equipment. Admiral oakamoto,
one of the most distinguished of the
japanese navy, has been very widely
| quoted recently to the effect that the
| United States had fine navy and poor
| lot of officers to man it. He said, accor d.
ing to the interview, that desertion was
life in the ranks and lie of the navy and
that the officers were more fitted to hold
down easy chairs in the Washington De-
partments than they were to command
warships. 1t was very indiscreet inter
view, if accurately reported, and the
japanese government was careful to
brand it as falsehood by directing the
japanese newspaper, the Hochi which
printed it, to Withdraw it and print a
mplimentarY interview on the Ameri-
can navy by an unnamed but "high Japa-
nese official" Of course, the fact that
the complimentary interview Was anony-
nous detracted good deal from its
weight.
But there appears this week in the Ger
|
can navy from Count Won Reventhlow,
one of the foremost naval writers of that
country. He criticised the American
navy from the viewpoint of a foreigner
who knows nearly all about it, and his
conclusions agree very closely with the
observations of the Americans.
He says that SO far as
ships and guns are concerned, Americans
have one of the best navies afloat, but
that they are short by several thousand
of men enough to man the ships they
have, while fresh ships are continually
being built. He says that the criticism
that many American naval officers are
too old for actice command is as whole
unjust. There are good many Ameri-
can officers whs would be eliminat d
| from the active list if real war were to
start. But he says that in such case
the natural bent of the American people
for mechanics and technical work would
largely furnish the element needed to
man modern ships and the question of
officers is one that would adjust itself to
the emergency. He believes in general
way that the American navy is on a
thoroughly satisfactory peace footing.
but that the building program is outrun-
| ming the personnel.
A bitter fight is being made by the
Pennsylvania railroad against the new
two cent mile rate law that has been
enacted by the Pennsylvania legislature
This stand of the railroad is the more
important since similar laws have been
enacted by several of the other states
and there is being railroad fight made
against all of them. Illinois, Indiana
Nebraska and Virginia are all in the
throes Of the two cent rate agitation.
The railroads declare that the two cent
law is confiscatory and therefore unjust
But the Pennsylvania went a little far in
proving its case, for in explaining that
the present rates of fare were not exces.
sive, it presented tables to prove that the
average rate of fare on state traffic now
was only 10 cents mile. The railroads
have all shown that they are not going
to submit to the statutes of the state leg
islatures without fight that will be car
ried to the highest court. 1t is a ques-
ton of control that will have to be