Los Angeles herald., 1909-04-23
A DMIRAL ROBLEY d. EVANS Is
n in Los Angeles this morning In
LA better health than he has been for

A DMIRAL ROBLEY d. EVANS Is
in Los Angeles this morning In
IA better health than he has been for
ten years, cruising on land" as he
calls his lecture tour, but ready to go
IN sea again as one of the greatest
lighting men the world has ever seen
should the need arise. He thinks there
will be a great war, not, however, in
yolying the United States from present
indications, and he laughs at the sug-
gestion of a conflict between this coun-
try and Japan.
Nothing of the kind" he said in his
room at the Alexandria last night. Tine
Japanese are not fools. They don't want
q fight with us. Why should they
there's nothing for them to fight about.
And besides they recognize, as every
one else must, that tremendous strug-
gle between Japan and Russia is pend
ing, II is quite evident Russia is get
ting in shape for it,
"The war that is certain between the
United States and Japan is CONNER
cial war-and the United States is
whipped before 1t begins to fight. Un-
less something in the way of a subsidy
is granted our merchant marine 1t is
impossible for us to compete with Jap
anese ships that can make the round
trip without carrying a passenger or a
pound of freight either way and still
declare a healthy dividend at the end
of the quarter. Until congress changes
its policy and encourages the develop
ment of our sea commerce we are not
in it on a commercial war.
"But so far as our navy goes, 1t spells
efficiency, or l don't know the correct
spelling. There never was trip like
that of our battleships from coast to
coast, $4,000 miles, without scratching
one another's paint, and not an acci-
dent to the machinery, and for marks
manship we beat the world. Ship for
ship and man for man they have none
better than the United States.
Pacific Coast Defenseless
"The- one great thing that the voy-
age proved was that it is impossible to
have. a navy in the Atlantic for the de-
fense of the Pacific coast. If you have
to depend on the battleships in the At
lantic for your defense in case of at
tack the Pacific coast will be shot to
ribbons before you can get relief. We
must have an adequate fleet on the Pa
cific and another on the Atlantic"
Admiral Evans answered questions on
this topic with a characteristic energy
and readiness. He never evades a news
paper inquiry; If not consistent with
his public position to answer 1t outright.
he says so frankly, and never sidesteps,
but 1t is evident that the subject he
is most willing to come back to is that
on which he is the country's highest
authority-the navel preparedness of
the United States.
There is but one thing to do" he
said, when asked about the extent of
appropriations for the navy, "raise the
limit so high there can't anybody play
with you. The United States is the
country that can do it. There is every
reason why we should.
I'VE have now thirty-one battleships
and two appropriated for. BY the time
the Panama canal is completed we
should have twenty-four battleships on
each ocean. Sixteen-that's a fleet
should be kept in commission all the
time, ready to defend at moments
notice. Then you will have an ade-
quate navy What we have to do be-
tween now and the finishing of the
canal you can figure out yourself.
1T is absolutely not feasible to go on
the basis that ships can be sent through
the canal to defend this coast They
would be in worse plight than the
Spaniards were at Santiago. The best
q battleship could do coming out of tie
canal would be three knots, and the
enemy would stand outside and riddle
them as fast as they came on. Ger
Vera'S SHIPS came on at nine miles and
made thirteen as soon as they got out,
but cur battleships coming through the
canal would never get into fleet forma-
tion. We must have the ships on the
outside to defend the canal, and enough
of them on each side-twenty-fo bat
tleships on the Pacific and twenty-four
on the Atlantic. Otherwise we are
likely to find ourselves in a bad fix"
do the people of this country appre-
ciate what the navy should be in point
of strength?"
Problem Not Understood
mo. they don't; but they are COM
ing to that. We have $250.0O0O00 in
vested in the navy, and ninety-nine out
OF hundred citizens don't know how
many ships there are. If any one of
them had $250.0O0 invested he would
know where every cent of it is; but
they don't know where hardly any of
that many millions are. 1t is because
the public is ignorant of the cost and
the needs Of the navy that we are be-
hind today.
II notice, however, everywhere I lee
ture a great, growing interest in naval
needs, which is very encouraging. But
the people Of this country must wake
up. and see that we have navy large
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