New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-09-13
ADMIRAL DEWEY.


ScribneTs Sons.
At seventy-fve Admiral Dewey gives
lis in straightforward, simple form the
story of his life. 1t is record OF faltn-
full service. begun at Annapolis at the
age of seventeen, under the naval
traditions Of the War of 1Sl2. and
brought to its glorious climax In Ma
Mia Bay with the victory that her
aided the advent of a new world power
and opened up new era in fhterna-
tional policies.
II is a seaman's chronicle from first
TO last, objective mostly, written with
as much impersonallty as an artobiog-
1aphy can contain. Admiral Dewey
gives us with just pride his Colonial
and Revolutionary ancestry. The Prot
estant Douals emigrated from France
in the latter part Of the sixteenth CEN
fury to Kent, in England, where the
family name was changed TO Duee.
Thomas Duee, the settler, came to Dor
chester, Mass. in 1854, and became one
or th= founders Of Windsor. Conn.
Again the family changed the spelling
Of its name, this time to its present
form. There was a Dewey at LeXing-
ton. another with Ethan Allen and the
Green Mountain Boys at the capture OF
Fort Ticonderoga. Simeon Dewey, the
admiraPs grandfather, born IN 100
was Il Vermont farmer; his rather
Jsiius Yemans Dewey, was a physician
who settled in Montpelier where
George Dewey was born on December
-. 1887, the youngest Of three broth
ers. He went to Annapolis in 1874,
was assigned as midshpman TO the
Wabash, a steam frigate, four years
later, and was made a lieutenant in
1861 on board the old side-wheeler
Mississippi. After his active service
through the Civil War Dewey was for
q while on duty at Annapolis, then
made a lighthouse inspector in 1878,
and shortly afterward appointed secre-
tary of the lighthouse board. His pro-
motion in the line was slow, in the days
of the stagnancy of our national in
terest in the navy. He served in Euro
pean waters, learning there that our
naval service had become jest among
the officers Of foreign powers. His
appointment as chief of equipment Of
the Navy Department followed in 1890.
in 1897. finally, he was placed in COM
mand of the Asiatic Squadron. The
rest is history.
The early pages Of this autobiog-
raphy have the quaint flavor Of things
naval now forgotten. The old captains.
many Of them veterans Of the War OF
1912, were opposed to every innovation.
They disapproved Of the Naval Acad-
envy at Annapolis they scorned theo-
retical training: they were hopelessly
behind the times and aggressive!y re-
solved to remain behind them
There was a saying in the co.'s that
the men of 1910 in our navy would have
been more at home in the ships OF brakes
fleet or in those of the Spanish Armada
than in the ironclads of the Civil War
and i think that il is also safe TO say
that the men brought up to service in
such vessels as the Mississippi, in which
i
would be more at home in the Armada
than in a ship OF the Dreadnought class
Admiral Dewey draws a picture OF
the primitive conditions Of instruction
and discipline at Annapolis in the days
when he was one Of it's cadets. They
not only hazed their juniors, but oc-
casionally their instructors as well.
They all chewed tobacco; in fact, they
had a class song celebrating the habit
1t was not until his first European
cruise as a midshipman that the adj
miral gave up the habit, because he
observed that the British and other
foreign officers did not indulge in it.
But even then the men who we're
graduated were well grounded. The
things that we knew we knew well
This has always been the character
istic of Annapolis, which fashions a
definite type of man for definite OBJ
ject in life" Our photographer in
ssts, in this connection, upon claim
ing for George Bancroft the credit
that is due him for his share in the
foundation Of our Naval Academy
And, again, he honors the memory Of
Gideon Welles, the competent civilian
Secretary OF the Navy during the Civil
War.
The narrative of Dewey's service
through the Civil War can be touched
upon only briefly here. He lays due
stress upon the Importance of its naval
phase as the real test Of ironclad and
r:ned gun and Of the short-lived ram,
revived from Roman days. 1t was in
1873 that Dewey, then in command OF
the Narragansett, in the Gulf Of Cal
ifoxnia, first turned his eyes toward
Manila. The incident is worth re-
counting. News Of the Virginius af-
fair had just reached the ship:
Resentment against Spain was so strong
i'm the United States that war seemed in
evitable. Going into the wardroom. ]
found the officers sitting about In various
attitudes Of dependency. ! asked them
why they were so blue. They said that
there was 10 be war with Spain and, ma
rOOned thousands OF miles away, they
would be entirely out of II.
ION the contrary, we shall be very
much I'm IT," ! said. IF war with Spain
is declared the Narragansett Will take
Manila"
II is TO Theodore Roosevelt that
Dewey gives the CHEF credit for such
preparations as were made when the