The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1911-01-12
Army AND NAVY MATTERS.
Military = and q Naval Topics Very
Much to the Fore-The Presi-
dent Against War Scares.

dent Against War Scares.
Army and Navy matters loom promi.
nently in Congressional procedure these
| days. That has come Increasingly true
since, the era Of large appropriations
for the Army. and large appropriations
for the Navy, was ushered in. The ex-
pendttures of money for Navy yards
Army posts and hundred and one
other objects arouse the interest OF
divers localities. The people get their
Senators and Representatives to work
in the hope of having the money eX-
pended where it will do these divers
| localities the most good.
Submarines on the Pacific.
Therefore it comes about that Con-
greSsinenl are quite as bdsy appearing
| before committees and tramping to the
| Navy and War Departments as they
traditionally have been in looking after
| Postmasters and rural routes. They
pull wires vigorously for legislation
from the Military and Naval Affairs
Committees of both branches. where a
decade ago comparatively little atten-
ton was given to the activities of those
committees. The Western folks have
long been most interested in Army leg
islation. because of the numerous Army
posts in that vicinity. but nowadays the
far Western folks are very much alert
to Navy legislation.
Within recent days they have been
sending delegations to the White House
and to the Navy Department. They
want submarines built on the Pacific
Coast, and are armed with comprehcn-
sive data to prove it is cheaper 20 build
submarines out there than to tuiid
them on the Atlantic Coast and then
transport them to the waters of the
Pacific. They want their Navy yards
enlarged. California delegations have
recently been laundering at the doors
of the Secretaries of War and the Navy
respectively to have a 50-foot channel
dredged up to the Mare Island yard.
When other Cabinet officers come to
the Capitol for n hearing before Appro-
priations Committee little notice is tax
en-. 1t is regarded as Il commonplace
occurrence. But when the Secretary of
the Navy is summoned before the Ma
val Affairs Committee there is interest
all around the Capitol to ascertain what
he had to say that was new bearing
upon the maintenance of. the Navy. Dit
to the Secretary of War.
The Army and Navy Appropriation
Bills.
The committees that prepare the
Army and the Navy appropriation bills
are again IiaTu dt Hofh getting tlOSe re-
spective measures into shape The
flourish Of pruning knives Is mitch to
the c0nsternation of Army and Navy
officers, who naturally enough like to
hsreya lot of money TO spend on their
branches of @the: military service. The
President sanctions the efforts af2eeon-
onay. has been disconnting war scare;
broafbed at;Sopportllne moments, and
it seems as tho there Is nothing 10 do
but Observe economy
One of the least perturbed of men
over; che recent output about Japanese
Vaccinations in the Philippines is
President Taft himself He is losing
no sleep because of reports about Hap
anese wireless stations in the Philip
pines. Japanese drawings of fortitica-
lions, and all that sort of thing. Even
the fears 'ofGthe Insular. Attorney Gen
eral, aow in Washington, that the Jap
anese6 are harboring deep-laid plans toI
swooD down upon the islands Of the
far East andiwrest them from the. SOW
ereignty of the Government at Wash
ington provoke only a. smile from the
occupant of the White House.
Ia plain English, the President of the
United states knows, as many other
well-infermed Americans know, that
either the Army or the Navy of every
civilized Nation which rates at all near
class a among the powers OF the earth
These intelligence bureaus are constant
Is reaching out for Information Most
of them have agents abroad. These
agents are probably more harmless than
the alarmats think, alth5 they are sur
ficiently numerous that now and thea
one or more of them are caught prose- |
cutting their tasks of taking pho.o-
graphs or making sketches of sttateeic |
points.
Intelligence Bureaus.
While such activities are undoubted-
ly undertaken for advantage in the case
of future hostilities. they do not mean
that war is being planned or that war
ships are soon to anchor a few miles
off important ports and discharged
broadsides of heavy missiles. The |
for such information about the |
points in the United States of i
America is certainly not to be enccur- |
aged. Neither is the President to be !
by alarms when solitary
japanese agent or two is discovered /
the task that bureau of |
has foisted upon him. The |
State Department knows, as nDdoubt- |
eddy the President knows that the I,
European powers are busy about the |
same things Recently Germany has
caught up with few British officers
who have been busy in the same way, |
and not long ago some German officers
We're surprised while engaged in SINH
lar efforts
Germany deals more vigorously with |
such cases than do some other Nations,
but as Nation Germany takes the ar
rests and convictions less seriously than
they are taken on this side of the At
lantic. 1t is something of a question
the Information that the Sc
cret agents obtain is of momentous
value. II is not proposed to offer much
gratuitously to other Ma
tons, for other Nations do not offer
it gratuitously to us. The whole mat
ter is one OF the incidents of modern /
armament and of modern efforts at pre-
paredness for war. t.
In the Philippines. however, as the
President knows, such actions are taken
very seriously. and that explains why
lot of money has been spent on cable
tolls for articles telling about japanese
spies and others in the-Mikado's en-
ploy. A -seditiOn society, composed OF
a few residents of some little Philippine
outpost, can hold an initial meeting,
the report ofiwhici. leaking to the out
side .VsOrld. may stir every person in
the Archipelago with CONSERVATION.
ThkIPresident understands the excit-
able. temperament of the little brown
brethren. He reads the cable dis
patclfss, seey the names of those who