The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-07-10
FRON OTHER PENS
BIG SHIP BEST AMBASSADOR.

BIG SHIP BEST AMBASSADOR
Congress has taken a step in the
right direction by refusing to sanction
appropriations for embassy buildings
In foreign capitals. The pressing need
OF the moment Is not government
strong enough to defend public and
private property. The expenditure of
millions for embassy offices Is not
warranted by any immediate necessity,
for these are merely decorative. while
the navy is an absolute essential.
If in 1914 we had owned a sea
force adequate for home defense the
British would never have attempted to
burn Washington. or to inflict such
punishment on our country. The
situation has OF course improved, but
even now our maritime power Is Sc
riously handicapped, In 1914 the navy
was too small for the protection of
one coast; today 1t is not big enough
to defend the two seaboards. equally
entitled to national guardianship.
/ What, for example. is the lesson of
the year? In order to safeguard the
Pacific States and possessions the At
lantic coast is left defenseless by the
transfer of the armored fleet. This
in deed is robbing Peter to pay Paul.
If. however. Americans cannot be
happy until they, amass a collection
of public buildings, which will crafty
their pride at the expense of the gen.
erai pocket, let them as sensible peo-
pie first assure the protection Of this
property by authorizing a navy es-
sential to its protection. In other
words, first build powerful navy as
a foundation and then the buildings
will be safe
In his California address Rear Adj
miral Evans asserted our need of few
err statesmen and more battleships.
We must all remember that for sew
eral months American newspapers
and American and Japanese diploma
lists were negotiating a question that
really concerned us alone. Every day
the shadow of war deepened and grew
palmer on the wall A crisis threaten
ed. Then. eft for fight or a frolic,"
point device and Bristol fashion, the
American battleship fleet doomed large
in the Pacific. The situation shifted
as a scene of the theater; the tension
relaxed, the shadows paled, grew faint
and fainter, disappeared. The crisis
went whistling down the wind. and
now everything is smooth.-New York
Herald.
SOCIAL ORDER AT CAPITAL.
The formation at Washington of the
Congressional club. an organization OF
congressmens wives, with the avowed
object of mitigating the social order"
at the capital may be looked upon as
a practical protest against the tendency
to European and aristOcratfc and ut
terly un-American exclusiveness which
has been increasingly aggressive dur
ing the past half dozen years, ana
which must be rebuked and put down
If this country is to continue repub-
lie. There is nothing suggestive Of
politics in the constitution of the club.
That document sets forth the object
of the organization as purely social.
aiming Ito promote acquaintanceship
among it's members, to facilitate their
social intercourse and to provide a
place of meeting which may help to
secure for them the advantages of life
In the national capital
Surely there was need for getting
together like this il the advantages OF
life in the national capital were held
beyond the reach Of wives and daugh-
tiers of the members of the popular
branch of the national legislature. In
the time of Lincoln, in the time of
Hayes, in the time of Mckinley public
receptions at the White House were
events of regular occurrence, and social
distinctions based on wealth or other
social accidents were frowned upon in
high official circles. The old spirit OF
equality has been missed OF late. A
year or more ago the wife of the pres
ident adopted rules of procedure at ia
BILE which savored so strongly of the
usages of royalty as to provoke scan
daL So far as the Washington CORE
spondents have kept the public inform
ed. the spirit in which these rules were
conceived remains unrelaxed, and now
comes the Congressional club to ''miti-
gate the social order at the national
capital. Wisconsin.