Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-10-15

Oregon on the Atlantic at the time the
Spanish American was began we would
have had no war. Spain would not have
sent over It's fleet Now the Oregon cost
i'm the neighborhood of 5000, 000 and four
additional Oregons would have cost per-
haps $4,000 600. The Spanish war cost
over $5O0, 900 above that amount so
that had those Oregons been in commits
sion VIC might have saved the, cost of
that war and have stlll had our invest
ment intact One of the greatest advan-
tages of a strong navy is that 1t prevents
the other fellow attacking YOU. A strong
navy insures peace and therefore we
must have the strongest"
Does 1t pay to have anything else"
mo. Small ships are like the Lir-
putians against an army OF GuIhvers;
they are like one petty policeman against
a mob OF toughs. 1t Is the strong man
who is not attacked. or course, we must
have auxiHaries and scouts and destroy
ers, too"
Give me some idea of our big guns"
This is the day of the big gun. and
of the alI-big-gun battleship. We have
now twelve-inch guns and are about TO
make some OF fourteen inches. A four.
teen-inch gun uses pTojectible weighing
l,4O0 pounds; its bore is so big that
good sized man could easily crawl into
it."
Are other nations building such guns2'
Yes, all the great European powers
and Japan are making big guns. The
British navy has guns which are thirteen
ard a half inches.
How do our ships compare with those
Of the other great powers?"
Ship for ship, they are as good In
number and armament Great Britain
leads, We are now second and in few
months we win be third. Germany has
ii number of great batteships under way.
and its navy will soon be superior TO
ours"
How many shps--haye we in our
fleet?"
I'VE have twenty-one vessels OF the
first line, and they are OF the highest
degree OF efficiency. We do not have
them scattered as they were In the past:
they are now msssed as divisions Of
which there are four; they are known as
divisions and not as single vessels"
Our Big fleet.
What Is the fleet7''
1T is composed of these twenty-one
battleships. One Of these is for the COM
mander-in-cbief and the other twenty
are in four divisions OF five ships each
We expect TO keep four ships OF each
division In active commission. and the
fifth will be at the navy yard for over
hauling"
But is this fleet large enough?"
We think So"
But suppose Mr.. Secretary, you could
have a navy regardless of cost. Suppose
you were Aladdin and by rubbing the
lamp could call upon certain geni to
create a navy for you in a night. What
would you order so as to make an abso-
lutely sure and safe protection for the
United states?'
You mean without regard to congress,
without regard to cost and for the sole
protection OF cur country and the pre-
vention OF war;
Yes" said !, that is Just what /
mean"
well. In that case / would have two
fleets like the one who have now. one
Of these would be for the Atlantic and
the other for the Pacific. / don't think
there would be any danger Of any power
upon earth attacking US then. that would
insure peace for all time 10 come"
ReOrRanlzinE the Navy.
Can you tell me something OF the
changes you have made as TO the reor-
ganization Of the navy since you became
secretary7'