The Washington herald., 1908-01-11

Blockade of the Ports.
Mr. Justice Harlan. addressing the dele
gates to the third annual banquet of the
Navy League. held at the New Willard
last night, looked into the future for a
few years and saw there the threat of
yellow peril" which shall involve this
earth in the most frightful war in history.
The rugged old justice. "a soldier Of the
civil war and not Jingo," he said, drew
a picture OF what our navy should be, and
why it should be what he advocated.
There We're other speakers at the ban
quiet. which was preceded earlier in the
day By receptions to the members Of the
Navy League by President Roosevelt and
Admiral Dewey. Other speakers there
were besides Mr.. Justice Harlan, but they
were speakers who took perhaps the same
view as the great Kentucklan on the need
Of an increase in the navy and who saw
no such yellow-Hned clouds in the far
East as he saw and spoke Of to those
present.
Army of 5000, 900 Chinese.
The Bird Of Peace would have been
quite little alarmed when the justice
told about the army OF 100000 Chinese
which shall soon become a living and
breathing. and possibly fighting. reality
in the Chinese empire. There were other
things that the justice said.
I don't care how big the navy is.
want 20 see the navy large enough to
take care Of the Atlantic, 10 take care OF
the Pacific. with all their cities.
4 do not care if you call for one navy
OF two navies. If any trouble ever arises
I want to see a navy great enough to
take care Of this country. We want q lit
tie larger army than we have.
Ready in Ninety Days.
There are in this country more than
100000 men between the ages Of eighteen
and forty-five who are ready to go TO
war within ninety days. The average
| American does not need more than those
ninety days in which TO become a soldier.
| No country would ever send an army to
/ invade our soil. We have got men
| enough to overwhelm the greatest army
1 that ever was in existence.
our army is on land, right around US
A President might use that army to sub
vert the institutions Of a free country.
But that does not apply to a navy These
vessels cannot get upon land. There IS
no danger 10 the liberties of the country
in an increase in the navy
! While the bird may have been slightly
alarmed at the talk of Mr.. Justice Har-
/ Ian. the other speakers would probably
have convinced him that the desire for a
large navy, which permeated the ban
! queters, evidently was merely prompted
/ by the belief that the bigger the navy
! the less chance Of some other nation de-
string to tackle IT,
Gen. Porter TOastmaster.
Gen. Horace Porter acted as toastmas-
10 be entirely new in WashingtOn-not TO
mention several other ''sallies." Gen.
Porter gave a short review of the work
done at The Hague. He commended the
work of Gen. Davis and Admiral Sperry.
the attaches of the army and navy re-
spectively, who were at the peace confer
| ence.
| Commissioner MaCfarland began his re-
marks, which the reporters got typewrit-
ten, by saying some good things which
were not in the copy. He said that he
was seated between Mr.. Foss, the
chairman of the Committee on Naval
| Affairs of the House. who could talk
on naval affairs but would not. and Con-
| gresham Weeks, of Massachusetts,. who
would talk but was not a member Of that
committee He said that he had been
told TO speak three minutes. but that
he hadn't been told to discuss Three
Weeks"
| Commissioner MacfarIand's speech.
Commissioner MacfarIand said. in part:
unless we want the experience of
| China, with her coasts seized by foreign
ers and her national spirit helpless in
their presence. We must have a strong
navy. Our sea power made our success
at the two Hague conferences possible.
That success will give the world a per-
manent tribunal, settling international
differences with justice and without war.
The navy is a peace-maker, not war
maker II enables us to speak to our
enemies. If We have any. in such a way
that they will be at peace with us, and
to bring the nations that would war into
peaceful relations. The peace victories Of
our navy make a glorious record. illus
trated by the introduction Of Japan to
modern civilization and by the admin
istrative and scientific achievements Of
naval officers. No wonder that the navy
has the affection of the country. But
that affection must be practically ex-
pressed This league ought TO have a
membership of a million. like the naval
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