The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-04-03
FIGHTING BOB"
is AMONG HIS
BEST FRIENDS

are Just as good a. the ships Of their
date belonging TO other powers. and all
can be depended on TO give a good ac-
count Of themselves if things break
loose.
The latest ships we have built are
To- a class by themselves. and are far
superior 10 anything in their class at
the time OF their construction. The
Utah and Florida, the new battleships
now under construction. viii be. when
completed. the masters Of anything de-
signed up to the present time.
"Can the present efficiency or the
American navy BE- raised IN view OF us
present equipment" he was asked
NO. sir" Numbered the admiral in
his best quarterback tones. our gun
ners are the best in the world today.
For myself. I'd vastly prefer inferior
ships with superior crews such as We
have. to superior ships with inferior
crews.
As long as our gunnery remains
what il now is. consider the question
Of the size Of the ships 70 be far less
important than at any time in the past
/ Speed is a far greater essential than
size, and gun service tops them both"
No War With Japan.
In your opinion. IS there any lfkeI-
hood OF war between this country and
Japan I'm the near future2'
There is not" was the reply. But
[ that IS no reason why We should not
I take every step To have the Pacific aGe-
qUately defended We must have Pa
clinic fleet. as well as an Atlantic fleet
Z Almost any enemy bent on mischief
could attack US on the Pacific side and
raise the very deuce before protection
could be had from the Atlantic
What in your opinion. is necessary
/ % provide for the proper protection Of
/ the western COAST
we must have a feet maintained
I there Of not less than twenty -four bat
tleships. with an equal number In the
Atlantic. Six could be used for drill
purposes. with a reserve Of eight
/ When we have that. you'll md nobody
viii want to play horse with US
"Wiu not the Panama canal change
conditions when II is completed
B with no Pacific fleet 10 protect them
I the heaviest armOred and most deadly
fleet in existence could not be brought
out OF the canal ana formed into battle
T line without being cut TO pieces, as they
would have 10 steam out one at a time
I Il would be another case Of Cervera'
squadron coming out of Santiago.
NOT only that. but suppose depend
ence were placed on the canal and
some foreigner with his country's vel
/ fare at heart should take his life in one
hand and a stick of dynamite in tbs
other and blow one Of the locks to king
dom come, where would our protection
come from them
we have thirty-0ne battleships, anl
two more being built, making thirty
three ia all FOrty-eight only are nee
essary. and we could have them ali il
q few years if the people would reaiiz'
Il their necessity. The fact that we were
so strong on water that 10 other coun
try would dare to tackle us would have
q tendency to stop paniCs and stool
fluctuations at the time of war scares
Figure il out for yourself. II would
\ only need the amount lost i'm shrinkag
of stock saluCs during one panic L
build a fleet Of 100 battleships.
improving Fast,
''Forty-eight battleships would max
the United States practically invmcible
when you consider that American gun
ners would be behind the guns. Gu
efficiency has increased TO such an eX
tent that if we had Santiago TO do owe
again. il would not take US five minutes
Where we used TO shoot a twelve-incl