The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-31
FIGHTING BOB" HAS
 REGA|NED HIS HEALTH
Admiral Evans Enters Busi-
 ness Career
HE DISCUSSES THE NAVY
Says Vessels Using Oil for Fuel Is q Great Improvement Because the Smoke of Coal DiscIoses
 Fleets Position

New York, October 30.-(Special.) .)-with his restoration to health, Admiral Robley D. Evans announces that after 40 years of life at sea on the bridges of battle ships. he will henceforth live on land and take up his residence in New York city. The admiral will divide his time between the east and California, where he has large financial interests.
 The fact that the admiral has entered upon business career will come as a surprise to many-for Fighting Bob" has come back Two years ago when he guided the Atlantic squadron to the Pa cific on it's famous globe-trotting trip he was only able to walk with crutches. and later he was unable to get about at all | Today Admiral Evans looks 20 years younger. He has grappied with his old foe, rheumatism, and conquered it, and Is restored to the good health he enjoyed years ago.
 Admiral Evans attributes this to his new interest in business, two months motor tour of the Pacific coast, where he spent much of his time sleeping out of doors and roughing it.
 q am a business man now" he said. smilingly, and oil is my business. studied 1t for many years before leaving the navy. and 1t is the only thing I know anything about away from battleship. It has done me oceans of good to find something to do and to do 1t. A few months ago I was able to throw away my crutches and the past few weeks 1 hau oI,l fo do of the time and could do without it en- tirely if it were not for some old wounds I got in my legs in the civil war. This business life has put me in bully shape. I would rather be a live business man than dead admiral s. "I have just returned from California where I have been Investigating that freak of nature, the oil fields of that state. oil Is the fuel of the future, and one of the signs that our navy is keeping abreast of the times Is that it is rapidly | said the admiral today
 Russia was the first nation to burn oil on a man-of-war, but the English were the first 10 go into extensive experiments with this fuel. The principal reason that | led England to take this step was the great disadvantage under which coat | burning warsaio labors. not only because coal is heavier and requires much greater bunker space. but 1t makes smoke, and | this Is very serious matter in war | fare.
 You cannot get near enough to your enemy if his vessel is as fast as yours to take a shot at him. Why, in sham war fare I have been able at distance of 40 miles not only to discern the presence of the hostile squadron, but to count the cnemy's ships, reckon his course and gauge his speed. Now, six of our new battleships burn oil as well as coal, and others are being fitted with oil burners. Our 10 new torpedo boats are oil burn CTS and two of our monitors have been | converted.
 Even were coal equally abundant oil would supplant 1t as a fuel for steam ships. Weight for weight oil gives 10 | heat units to 7x per coal and there is an immense saving in storage space and expense of disposing of ashes. Remem- Der that warships when in foreign ports must pay handsomely for having their ashes carried out to sea and dumped by lighters.
 "The saving in labor alone to the United States navy would be enormous for one stoker will do the work of 20 when oil | is used instead of coal. If I were to say how great I think the money sav- ing would be the newspapers would think that had lost my mind.
 "Furthermore, there would be a great | reduction in the number of accidents in the navy. A larger percentage of the accidents than is generally known are due to explosions in the coal bunkers, re- | sulting from the ignition of coal gases.
 "Oil fuel will remove the only tenable | objection to the maintenance of a formid- | able fleet of battleships in Pacific waters.
 "Our country. with Its great petroleum | fields, will produce enough oil to supply the fuel demands not only of our war | ships, but of the American merchant ma- rine and industries as well. When the Panama canal Is finished, and that Is about five years hence, the cost of oper- ating steamship lines will be the great problem. At the present time, by the use of oil instead of coal, ship can save twice the freight charges in voy- age from New York to San Francisco.
 "When the canal Is finished thousands of tons of merchandise will pass through daily, and this business will be ours if we have our own steamship lines and use oil as fuel. know whereof l speak, for I have the official figures on one ship which made a voyage from San Francisco to New York burning coal, and, under the same conditions. made the return voyage burning oil, and saved $500 per day, or s26,000 for the 52 days trip. You can see for yourself the sav- ing. fs
 "All the larger ships are coming to 1t, and the cities. too, and I predict that a decade from now oil will be the fuel in general use.
 My statements may sound radical to you now,' said the fighting admiral as he arose, but as great things have come to pass. You would have laughed al the man who five years ago predicted the success of the aeroplane and the man. bird. Well, five years from now you will see a large percentage of our vessels and great industries using oil as fuel.
 Anyhow ended the admiral with . chucke If you cannot burn oil Just now, rub little of it on your head
 1t makes the hair grow