The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-05-05

from illustrated papers,, hold to the
view that Providence will prOtec our
country without the need of dread
noughts, and that an adequate navy
is merely a needless national expense.
The Navy and the People Of h
Island.
l sometimes fancy that our naval
officers fail to understand the extent
and depth Of this feel throughout the
country. 1t is a point of view impos-
sible to men like themselves . no from
the day when they entered Annapolis,
have had cold facts and figures ham
mered mot them regarding the ne
cessity Of a defensive fleet to any
country whose coasts are worth the
narrowing and whose ports a be
made to yield vast tribute to an at
lacking fleet. Because the popular
point Of view Of this n kindred sub
jects is impossible for the trained
naval man to understand fully. our
wise forefathers decided hat a civilian
should be placed at the head of the
Navy. a man who, understanding the
feeling Of the nOn-military people,
can best adopt measures and frame
arguments that will convince them Of
the imperative need Of adequate pow
ers Of defense; for | ..Old that no one
can convince until he understands
what doubts are to be removed. In
AAv OOSN' ~
vinced that loyalty, answering pa
triotism, and an exact scientific
knowledge of the facts underlay the
insistent demands of the Departments
naval experts for an adequate Navy,
the problem as laid before me took
this form: Many people believe that
an increase in the Navy is needless.
This belief is instructive and not
founded on an investigation Of the
facts or knowledge of the subject. To
Onver a majority Of these people, it
would be useless to publish pages OF
statistics Of numbers of ships, relative
diSplacementS, comparative muZzle
energies, armor efficiency, steaming
areas and kindred data, because the
majority Of them wuold not take time
to read such tables, nor attempt to
understand them il they did. The
graveSt objection to In adequate
navy is because of their belief that
the Navy represents an expense to the
Government without compromising
benefit in return. The task that lies
before the Secretary of the Navy,
who understands this feeling on the
one hand, but who has become con-
WINGED or its errOneOuSnesS on the
other, is to find some way to secure al
least the passive support OF these
people.
Can the Navy BE Made .Practical"
OuCAt OCiAS Tic pTODieH1, IL WOOlC
seem that it a way could be found tc
convince this portion Of our people
That the Navy is not merely an ex.
; pense, but an economic asset to tn
country and q good business invest
inent of the taxpayers money. i
9 would go a long way toward a solu
ton of the situation, and would d.
mucn TO win them from a position o
active objection to one of absolut,
:. encouragement Of a proper naval con
struction programme. The creates
: economic loss to the country from tn,
. Navy, be 1T necessary or Unnecessary
: lies not in h money spent, but i,
the $4,000 men taken from gainfu
industrial pursuits; for the none
n spent on the Navy, it must not be for
o gotten. goes back again into the tax
payers pockets, to a very large ex
tent. The Navy is not like the ricI
american who goes abroad to spen
o his money, but the funds ~appropriat
0 ed are used to pay American work
e men n American merchants an
e american manufacturers, and is, j
time. distributed among our Ameri
d can citizens. so that. in the end, prac
l. ucally all Of 1t gets back into the tax
It payers pockets from which it came
but II the country loses the prOduc
e tive services annually Of so, 600 mel
is 1t is a real economic loss witho,
u, compensation. NOW, It is practlcdil
universally admitted by students {
a economies and political thu
lie the best investment a great and pow
erful nation like our own can make
1t In the education of its young me-
Is particularly along Industrial line
n that the nation which has II
lg most efficient and w~cll-trained cit
to ZenS skilled to use their heads as WI
p as their hands, is most certain to W
s. IN the fierce competition for Il
a worlds industrial supremacy. c
ed this point, the theorists and legis3ati'
EN- bodies of the great nations of IL
as world are agreed. if the legislation
es all these countries in the last fe
tie years means anything.
Naval Appropriations for Exlucauo
ny You dc no rear of legislati
bodies in our or in any othe
w squeezing to the last degree appropri
tons for education: and in German
.eS which is one of the leaders in
scientific and industrial movement
nut provisions for the education of t
-orl,roor alamo all tho EnoS ~ I