The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-27
TAFT'SFR|ENDS HAVE. UNEASY CHRISTMAS Political Outlook Causing
 Bad Worries ROBSON ON THE NAVY
 
Illustrious Alabama Representative Still Supporting His Hobby of En- larging United States Navy.
 His Idea of Economy
By RALPH NJ. wHITEsIDE

Washington, December 26-(Special.)- )- Politically the friends of President Taft will spend rather an uneasy Christmas The evident feeling among many Of the national committeeman that the President would not make the strongest candidate in the election next year was enough to worry any mans friends.
 l It Is pretty safe bet however, that MT. I Taft will stay in the race, and that he will be nominated. His friends say, and in this they are backed up by some Of the wisest politicians here, that there Is no man in the republican party who would make better or perhaps as good race than the President; that if he cannot beat the democrats no one could. In sup port of this contention, they point out that failure to renominate MT. Taft would at once put the republicans on the de- fensive all along the line, would encour- | age the democrats and would make luke 1 warm the great number of Americans who admire MT. Taft, and who think he has made on the whole a good President. And among the anti-Taft men to the con- trary there is big element in the coun- try which has just this feeling for the President. Hence the impression among the men who make politics a study is that when the show down comes In the convention it will be found that MT. Taft will be named by an overwhelming ma jority.
 The democratic hosts will meet here on Jackson Day and decide on the date and place for their convention. There will be a number of cities in the race, possibly New York city among them. The cities most spoken of are Denver, St. Louis and Baltimore. The democrats were tretated mighty we'll in Denver in 19OS and there Is not a man who attended that eonven- tion who has not a very friendly feeling for the Colorado city It would not be at all surprising if the democratic na- tional commmittee should decide to re- peat.
 It is probable that the time chosen will be a week or two later than that set for the republican convention. If by chance the republicans should turn down MT. Taft 1t would have an important bear ing on the democratic nomination.
 With Colonel Roosevelt or a radical pro- gressive at the head of the republican ticket. the chances of man like Harmon or Underwood would be greatly increased.
 
 his way, this country would soon be able to match fleets with any power in the world, England not excepted. It makes him hot to hear talk of eeonomizing by cutting the naval building appropriation. He dIclared the other day:
 That would not be economy. It would, on the contrary, probably result In a very great loss. There IS an aspect of the naval question which is not as widely un- derstood as it should be. Now here IS fact:
 "rhe greatest net loss which nke United States ever sustained was between the years 1892 and 1896, when we failed to con- struet three battleships Those three ships of the type then being built would have cost total of $10, ,0O0000. If they had been constructed there would have been no war with Spain. They would have given us, as opposed to Spain, absolute control of the sea. We did not apparently have such control without them. Therefore. we had to fight What was the result? We went into a war the ultimate cost of which is about S1,50O,000000. In other words, we saved s10,ooO,00o, and found our selves engaged in a conflict the cost of which it is almost impossible for the mind to conceive.
 The next greatest net loss sustained by this country occurred between the years 1S06 and 1911, when there was a failure to provide for reasonable navy. One million dollars spent in ships at that time would have prevented the war of 1912, and all the tremendous cost which followed it. One million dollars would have prevented the call ing out of nearly 500,000 volunteers and would have made unnecessary an enormous pension list. The country saved that million, and we had our war One of the incidents of 1t was the fact that 5000 English soldiers burned the city of Washington. Was there any economy in that?
 We are now a third rate naval power, due principally to the con struction fwhat is known as the dreadnaught type of battleship When the first Dreadnauaght was constructed by England all of her other ships and all of the ships of other powers auto matically went to the scrap heap. The dreadnaught became a new standard. Germany had an opportunity to start practically even with Great Britain in building a new navy, for the dread naught Is today the only type which 1 can go into the first line of battle, England has 12 and has either author