Los Angeles herald., 1908-04-21

that great seaman, the first to cir
cumnavigate the globe, who gave his
name to the straits which he discoV?
cred. The picture of Columbus must
often come before every student sailor,
recalling the bravery, confidence anu
courage of the great commander, as
with his little caravel he dared the
dangers of the unknown Atlantic. AS
you steamed from Magdalena bay to
San Diego it may have occurred to you
to remember the fleet that brought TO
California the first missionaries. The
ships of the line were the San An
tonia and the San Carlos; they were
not armored cruisers, nor frigates,
even-only poor, wretched little ships.
They made various expeditions from
San Diego to the north in search of
Monterey. You would hardly venture
on those ships today. Yet they crossed
the ocean and bore to this country
the missionaries of religion and civili-
zation, and they laid foundations and
built the monuments which are the
pride and glory of our California to-
day AS you sail to the north, re-
member the famous race between the
battleship CellingsWood and the United
States ship Savannah in 1S46 in their
contest for the possession of Califor-
mia. Captain Sloat of the Savannah
and planted the American flag on Cal
ifornia soil at Monterey. Now you
come with a mighty feet of battle
ships-the defenders of all that the
flag and the cross stand for in our
life as nation.
Are Country's Defenders
You, gentlemen of the fleet, will, as
officers of the navy, have in your hands
for the next ten years the defense of
our nation on the seas; you will have to
do with the general lines of the defense
of the country and with the naval
equipment. We want you to take good
note now c. our Pacific coast with it's
needs, of our great western states and
their destinies. Remember that we
must be considered just as much as the
Atlantic coast. One of the greatest of
our dangers is from the Pacific, because
of the islands, the dependencies of the
nation. We appeal to you not to allow
us to be neglected. We are glad to
greet you and wish you to know us and
to realize that we are worth protect
ing. We honor you for what you are
and for what you stand ready to do.
Commanders of our ships, you are all
dear to us, and in your hands is our
welfare. You are at home with us, you
are our brothers. We love you, your
ships and your men. Every ship of the
line is dear to us because our flag floats
from it; every gun is dear because it
is a sentinel on guard to defend us;
every man is our hero because his body
stands between us and danger. Sail
on, and let the world see the strength
and dignity of our manhood and the
power of the American republic. With
love to all and malice to none, hu-
manity is in your keeping, human
rights are under your care, the oppres-
sed look to you for help; they have the
right to expect it from the flag that
floats above you. You belong to noble
line and you are holding to noble rec
ord. Let no man touch that flag with
impugnity; il is the noblest flag that
floats in the breeze; it is the symbol of
cur liberties and is confided to your
care. God bless you and have you in
his holy keeping. May Old Glory, our
starry banner, ever proudly float over
our fleet; it's stars-beacon lights OF
honor and glory; it's stripes-symbols
of sacrifice and integrity; our flag, Sc
renely confident in the strong protect
ing hands of our navy.