Tonopah daily bonanza. [volume] (Tonopah, Nev.) 1906-1929, 1911-11-11
THE NAvY-AND ADVERTISING IT.


In spectacle and official ceremonies as inter
estng and Impressive all around as the forma
review by their commander-in-ch chief of one hun
drcd war craft Of the United States navy witt
their officers men and equipment it would ordi
narlly be rather difficult matter to select the
most impressive feature of the incident But il
Thursday S affair in the North river and New
York harbor two things stand out conspcuouslN
above all the color and noise and general move
ment OF the ceremony-and not particularly be
cause they We're new unusual President Taft )
Semi-oficlal statement setting forth his ideas OF
the United States navy, as the great bulk of i
passed in holiday dress and movement under his
eye. and projecting deliberately his opinion as
TO ITS needs And Secretary Meyers notion o
one factor IN departmental policy, which was tn,
underlying purpose Of the whole function-the adj
vertising OF the American navy. President Taft
although obliged to leave the Maytlower in the
middle of the review in order to catch train
had been thoughtful enough to commit to paper
and ink during the first part Of it these impress
Slons OF what he had seen:
Those who saw the fighting fleet which
was assembled in New York harbor Thurs
day could not fail to be struck with its
preparedness and with its high military
efficiency, and must have been proud of
its personnel The demonstration has had
an educational value in arouSing patriot
ISM. III increasing the general knowledge
OF and interest III the navy in illustrating
the ability TO mobilize on short notice and
in showing the skill Of the officers who
turned the whole fleet in the narrow river
and sent it to sea at the rate of fourteen
knots an hour
The equipment of the fleet is excellent
rNrclt as to the number Of dcstroyerS and
cruisers and colcrs IN proportion to the
whole number We had in the fleet
twenty-five destroyerS; and TO meet the
IaVn hnan
proXlmately one hundred destroyprs or
an average OF four to each battleShip It
IS true that there has been marked i'm
provement in the type Of Golfers and fast
cruisers IN oul navy, but it is also true
that we haven t sufficient number
In addition to building great battleships
other nations are building enormous high
speed cruisers twenty-eight knots per
h'lr-ma Il is believed that our navy
should be similarly equipped. Unless a
navy is maintained at the highest posi-
pic state Of efficiency, it is a needless ex-
travagance
Embodied III this is what ought to constitute
the sum and substance of our American naval
policy for all time 1t is money thrown away. if
we maintain only half navy instead of whole
one and as good as the establishment Of any other
first-clasS power; it is just as much waste of
money II we keep part of our sea-ightinp
force superior to the corresponding part of any
other navy while permitting other parts to drop
into inferior position. Our senator's and reprp-|
sentatives talk glibly Of appropriations for two
four or SIX battleships year in order to prevent
out-of-datedness and to keep the average battle
ship equipment up to the best in the world: but
that sort of thing long kept up at the sacrifice of
upto-dateness and number in other and supple
mentary types of warcraft would soon relegate
the United States to the rank of IA fourth or fifth
naval power. AS well provide forts without
troops to man them or postoffces without an ade-
qlate force OF men to conduct the business 1t
is balance that Our navy needs, says the New
York Commercial.
Secretary Meyer long ago senscd the fact that
the great bulk of our population being Glands
men, as il were. that measure Of popular inter-
est in navy which is absolutely necessary TO
provoke nothing short of St-claSS one must
somehow be aroused. Tie has applied .'pubicity' ~
to the navy from the outset has advertised it as
none of his predecessors had ever done has per
mittet i to be advertised by Others i'm every
Legitimate way consistent with the dignity of the
department and Of the United States government
itself On the Dolphin last Thursday were as
many worlimen for the moving picture concerns
aS her decks would accommodate and during the
whole week Of the mobilization of the fleet here
every facility has been extended 10 persons seek
ing naval information desiring to secure ma
q al for hin II bo, -