Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-06-03
SECRETARY MEYER TELLS AN
NAPoLis CLASS THAT EFFIci-
ENcY IS DEMANDED.
MENACE AND, USELESS EXPENSE
If ALLOWED TO DETERloRATE
Shows That 90 Per Cent Of Men on
Naval Vessels Of Nation Are Ameri-
Observation-Disclosures Great For Both
Officers and Enlisted Men-officers
Must Work AZ Well as subordinates.

Annapolis, Nd, June 3.-Secretary of
the Navy Meyer told the graduating
class at the naval academy here today
that the navy should be so constituted
and drilled that it will have at all times
the greatest possible military effic-
iency."
Under such conditions only" he
added, "can the navy protect the in
terests of the country and insure peace.
! The navy is only a menace and a need
less expense when it is permitted to
deteriorate and when the military
spirit weakens."
Taking models of the original Kear-
sarge and of the modern battleship
Michigan, which are in his office in
Washington, Mr.. Meyer said he could
think Of mo comparison that would
demonstrate so well at glance how
the duties of the naval officer have
changed, and with it the characters
tics of the officer and blue jacket"
Then after speaking of the enlisted
men of the navy, saying that, while in
former years it was often difficult to
man the ships with American sailors,
today SO per cent of the crews are
Americans, he continued:
While the change in the require
ments of the enlisted man is very great,
1T is equally, if not more, marked in
the officer, and the Transformation that
has taken place in the navy is a trans
formation not only in personnel but in
material and in the methods of hand
ling both.
Officers Must Work.
"The battleship of today is a vast
complicated mechanism and it requires
a skilled personnel to make all parts
work In union to a common end. This
reuires on the part Of officers and
men of the navy exactfng drill and
training. The young officer OF today,
instead of being sent aloft to furl sails,
is sent down into the stokehold to fire
the furnaces and tend the boilers. There
he learns how everything must be
maintained in efficient working order
to get the greatest speed with the
greatest economy of fuel"
He went on to explain how the
officer is given a similar training in
regard to the other parts of a vessels
management.
Referring to the personnel bill in
troduced in congress by which captains
will be created from 43 to 40 years of
age and rear admirals at So, the Sec
rotary said:
"The responsibility of commanding
"a battleship involves not only thous-
and lives but a vast expenditure Of
money and possible loss Of a unit
In the fleet of strategic Importance.
Therefore, commanding officer should
be at an age to stand the nervous as
well as the mental and physical strain.
Our admirals should have more time
in that rank to get practice as squad
ron and division commanders before
reaching the supreme command of the
fleet"
In conclusion the secretary admon-
ished the young officers to let their
aim be IAN earnest endeavor at all
times to attain the highest efficiency
and not to be satisfied with anything
less"
1.-THE country looks to you," he as
serted, not merely to be content to
step in the footprints of your prede-
cessors but to make your own foot
prints and to do under an circum-
stances the best that is in you, whether
in peace or in war, and thus maintain
the reputation of the American navy
for progressiveness, efficiency and
courage"