Los Angeles herald., 1908-04-21
RARE TREAT IS
GIVEN ADMIRALS
THOMAS MAKES REPLY TO
HEARTY WELCOME
ALEXANDRIA Is TURNED INTO
DREAM LAND
Thousands OF Dollars Are Expended
In Lavish Display Of Flowers
For Banquet of Naval
Officers
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CONTINUED from Page Three)
our attention upon the responsibility of
our navy to preserve peace, develop our
trade and defend our rights before the
world. 1t seems to me more than a
mere holiday parade, and the idle
boast or foolish Joy will fail to meet
the responsibility Of the occasion. The
fleet stands for a principle, the princi-
pie both OF honorable defence against
any enemy of our country and of manly
protection toward all our interests upon
the seas The demonstration of our
fleet on the Pacific Is not an invitation
to quarrel nor is it vain exhibition of
national pride. 1t rather brings to us
a sense of our national dignity of which
we have reason to be justly proud. 1t
also gives familiarity with the ports of
the world and gains for our men knowl-
edge and experience which must prove
valuable in their training.
Our Fleet Is American
Our feet is thoroughly American, its
ships it's officers and it's men, and In 1t
Is represented every section or the
country.
AS we look upon these great instru-
ments of modern warfare and reailze
the strength that comes to US from
their protection, one cannot fail to go
back to the early history of our country
and to the first days of our naval his
tory. jeremiah OBrien and Dennis
O'Brien were two Irish boys of Mach1as
in Maine who under the inspiration of
the news from Lexington captured an
English sloop in the harbor, manned 1t
and with 1t defeated the Margaretta,
winning the first naval battle which our
history has honored with the title OF
10 a
John Barry of the ship Lexington was
made captain of the new United States
navy by Washington in 1775 and 1t is
said to be the first commodore of any
thing in the shape of a navy. We are
familiar with the story of Barry and
Jones and Hull, and we realize that
even in those modest beginnings the
character of our seamen went far
toward determining the issues of the
Revolutionary war. Notwithstanding
the policy of Jefferson and his party in
opposition to battleships, our navy had
the faith of John Adams in gums
afioat' and our seventeen vessels
against one thousand of the English
line covered themselves with glory. The
war of 1872, fought on the seas, deter
mined forever the character of our
citizenship and made the law which
was afterward to govern the relations
Of foreign nations with us.
At the close of the Civil war our navy
was among the most powerful in the
world but it consisted mostly of wooden
ships The time had come for larger
and better navy which would have all
the spirit of rs, of 1912 and of 81.
President Arthur in his first message
said that every consideration of ma
tional safety, economy and honor i'm
reratively demanded thorough re-
habilitation of the navy. The Ameri-
can republic had ceased to be a power
confined to it's own states, it was reach
Ing out toward place in the world
power.
The Old Navy Is Gone
The wooden ship had yielded to those
of steel, and the ship of three thousand
tons to that of five thousand tons. The
new ships were built in our own coun-
try, and the steel was entirely of do
mestic production. The White Squad
ron was the first great demonstration
of a modern efficient navy. Then came
the battleship and proteced cruiser. the
torpedo and dynamite boat. In 1892 the
Iowa came with it's 11,000 tons and it's
brave, noble-hearted commander, the
beloved Bob Evans. Battleships be-