Bisbee daily review., 1908-11-25
NAVY CRITICS ANSWERED IN
 PUBLIC MEET
Leading Officers of the Service Agree That Warships Are Far Ahead of Other Nations In Vital Points.

] CHICAGO, Nov. 24.-Critics of the navy who condemn our, warships be- cause of minor defects, We're answer ed pubhcIy last mght at banquet of the UnIted states Naval Academy
 Alumni of the East. Six rear ad-
 mirals sat at the banquet board at the Auditorium hotel, and letters scoring recent critics and praising the navy were read from Admiral Dewey, Rear Admiral Schley and Rear Adj miral Evans. The rear ad.nirals pres ent were Washington l.. Capps, Chef of Construction of the Navy Albert Ross, Willard H. Brownson, Francis J. Higginson, French E. Chadwick and James H. Dayton. Rear Admiral Capps, after alluding briefly to the de- velopment of battleships and 1eclar- ing that the vessels of this country were fully abreast of the times. sad.
 T shall refer you to the opinions of the most distinguish ed admiralS who have ever commanded fleets In our or any other navy. Each of these opin- ions was, written in res s9onse to a re- quest. One evening a short time agO, was walking along the street with a naval officer whose name is a house hold word from one end of the coun- try to the other. He made very point allusions to comments recently con tained in certain newspapers and periodicals respecting the condition of our battleships and their alleged faulty design. I asked him to put his remarks into writing, which he did. He was Rear Admiral Schley."
 Rear Admiral Capps thea read the letters. Admiral Dewey's letters said in part: "Of the battleships designed during the last few years 1 have spoken and shall continue to ak in the highest terms. The fleet. of battle ships now going around the world are of the older type, and some of them have lived half the life. as com monly estimated, of a ,battleship In the first line. Battleship building is one of the most progressive of modern arts, and old ships are not equal 70 new-but the vessels which have re- gently been received with such mark ed consideration in South America. New Zealand, Australia Japan and China are the equals Of foreign yes sels of their date of construction, anI often their superiors. There is prob ably nowhere in the world todly a fleet of sixteen battleships ct greater fighting strength"
 Admiral Schley's letter said in pa~t: 'I am wholly out of sympathy with those critics who find nothing good in what exists and whose policy appears to ba destructive rather than con structive. I have watched this dis cusSion in the press and period 'ca1s with interest bon of a lifetime of ser- vice under the flaXk and I an satisfied that 1t preceded f-nm a snir't Of 'censurOus"es tat over'ooks the fac that no such thing as a perfect ship floats the seas now, nor is it possible to create one, no more than it Is DOS sible to find perfect man."
 Admiral Evans lette~ said in part: "After an eXnerience with our fleet which few men have had, am con vinced that Cur ships. take0 as whole, arn equal to or super'or, to those built by any other country. of course. our frs ships are not the equals of the last fOreig0 shins. and no sane man would exnant them to be but date for date of design they are the e0UalS Of any. e~cent in the case of our latest designed ships. where the great superiority of cur shins Is be yond 0uestion. As fighting machines our designs of the last few years show great advantages over anything pro posed abroad"