The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-08-30
A Navy for Peace
Bv Rufus F. Zogbaum in The Outlook
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and intelligent and tactful forethought,
might eventually prove inimical to the
domestic and commercial interests of
both peoples-will still further make
, for peace.
Taken as individuals and as a class,
the officers of the navy of the United
States are the peers-through the severe
test of the course at the Naval Academy
possibly the superiors in preparatory
education-of any in the world, and to
their faithfulness to their trust, to their
spirit of intelligent prOgressiyeness IN
what pertains to the broad requirement
of knowledge of their profession, is due
the steady advance of the Service to-
wards always higher standards of eff
ficiency. But though trained for war,
first and always, familiarity with ques-
tions of law and comfy, as affecting the
intercourse and relations of nations
with one another, forms an important
part of the education of the naval Of
ficer, and to him not only fall the duties
of seaman and engineer, artilleryman,
ordnance expert, and electrician, but he
must be, in a measure, a diplomat as
well. If the time comes, it is his duty
to strike hard, waging war with all the
strength and power given into his hands,
yet his very knowledge of what war
means impels him to be man for
peace; and, more than once, the con-
spicuous ability with which our naval
officers, brought face to face with an
unforeseen emergency when hasty or
ignorant action might disturb the tran
guilty of the Nation, have handled
delicate and difficult situations, has call
ed forth cordial expression of appre-
citation by the head of the Department
of State. 1t is, however, in the friendly
visits of our warships to foreign peo-
pies that our officers-and in these
times our bluejackets to certain ex-
tent, be it said-serve as agents of great
value in the promotion of international
good will. Ambassadors and minister's
plenipotentiary hold their intercourse
with the heads of the governments to
which they are accredited; the peoP.e
on our ships meet and come more or less
in touch with the people of the country
of which they are the guests. That this
was so to an unusual degree was mani
fest during the cruise of the battleships
of the Atlantic fleet along both enas:s
of South America. When but compare
lively few of the inhabitants of any
important seaport are directly or per
sonally affected by the occasional stay
of foreign war vessels in their waters,
the friendly comings into their harbors
of the American fleet, consisting of such
an aggregation of powerful ships with
the thousands of their crews, were I'M
precedented events of such Importance
as to arouse the interest of practically
the entire people of the countries visit
ed. Public functions, where hundreds of
our officers came in contact not only
with highranking government officials
and with their military and naval col
leagues, but with representative civil
ians as well, led to friendly social rela-
tons and to the interchange of hospi-
tallty through festive gatherings on the
land and the visits of the people there
to the ships. Our bluejackets were
everywhere in conspicuous evidence
ashore, going on elderly almost daily, !
literally by the thousands, and the gen
orally admirable conduct of these men
(although the apparently inevitable ex-
ception to the rule was not always
wanting) was, l believe, strong factor
in the promotion of the friendly feeling
towards Americans and the fleet dis |
played on the part of the mass of the |
to me that the opportunities afforded |
in the friendly visits of our feet to |
other peoples-irrespective of race or
form of government-of better know |
ledge and appreciation of one another, |
through acquaintance among individuals |
in such great number, will do as much |
towards creating sentiments of mutual |
respect and good will as official recep- |
tons, however cordial in welcome and |
lavish in entertainment they may be.
With the evolution of the warship a !
great change has come about in the con-
dition and environment of the man-of |
war 's-man, and the duties of the blue |
jacket of today require education and |
training of a nature differing in so many |
respects from that of his forebears as
almost to battle comparison. In the |
'tdays of heave and haul recruits for |
the navy were drawn largely from the |
merchant marine, and the TRANSFORMED !!
ton of an ordinary tarry- handed waif |
of the sea, already familiar with the |
life of the ocean, into smart man-of- |
war 's-man was question of no great |
difficulty. There were many splendid |
men among them (and even yet some |
fine veteran sailormen, survivors of the |
old navy, honor the warrant and chlei |
petty-officer grades of the new but as
to whether the enlisted man was a
portuguese, Dutch, or SWede, or OF any |
other nationality, mattered little then,
so long as he was sailor and ''couId
pass the Doctor.
Nowadays the men of the crews of
our ships are Amerieans-the very great
majority of them native born; all must
be citizens.
The young men of the enlisted force
of the navy at the present time form a
very good representation, in point of
character, physical and mental attri- |
butes, of the mass of the socalled work |
ing people of the Nation. Great num-
bers of them come from decent homes |
and are the sons of worthy and respect |
able parents, and they are recruited for |
the service, not only from what there is |