Bisbee daily review., 1915-11-28
WHAT IS HE NAVY EoR2

Franklin D. Roosevelt assistant secretary of the navy said in a recent speech:
 'If are going to stand by what we have and ur hold American ideals then the words national defense mean a defense that stretches across the ocean an lakes in Alaska and the Philippines and our other co onia possessions and that includes our relations wu south America and the protection of American trade an commerce whrreaver it may extend over the earth
 National de 'nse in that thuer and broader sens means the creation of navy that will keep the for the protection Of our merchant ships" a his argument may sound pldu,ibl, until you exam The it carefully and see what it ready implies
 It is evident that long as We have distant islam, possessions, possessions of such dubious value he Philippines we should adopt all rational means O protecting them.
 It will also be admitted that our Monroe doctrine i'm poses the obligation to have fleet strong enougl give any LatnAmerican nation effective help in cas, of its sovereignty being mperled by any foreign power although thus far have always effectively maintained that doctrine with a small navy
 But when we talk of creating navy that will kecr control of the for the protection American trad, wherever it may extend over the whole earth" we ar, getting into pretty deep water For if that proposition means anything, means that we should build and man
 greater fleet than Great Britain now has or can here after create and take Britan's place as the world. great sea power
 There be control Of the sea by any nation with out the strongest navy possessed by any of the pow We may go further and say that there can be nc control of the without stronger navy than is pos sessed by the two next strongest powers
 We are driven to the same conclusion by such argu ments as those of Congressman Gardner of Massachu setts of the most jealous advocates of big navy In recent statement Mir Gardner denied that he had advocated the biggest navy the world for the United States" But in the breath he declared that the United States ought have a navy big enough to defend itself against any fleet which would be able to bring 10 the attack"
 This is a somewhat different matter from nary big enough go abroad every sea and safeguard our trade all times against any enemies any quarter the world But its practical implication almost the same It requires by implication, just about as big fleet
 Our navy today is about half strong Engands 8. We don't know what proportion of her fleet she might bring against If threefourhs then should need
 fleet at least threeourths as big as hers But there is than England to consider. Japan is her ally Japans fleet is about wothirds as strong as ours If ,ney combined ,o attack us, should evidently need fleet bigger thon Eaglands to rere them And there is the theoretical possibility British fleet being reinforced by other allies Nations fight groups now and we alone among the powers have no allies And so the size necessary" navy grows, without limit of size or cost
 All this is ridiculous. What we are building a bigger navy primarily defend continental coast and prevent invasion That is The only kind of navy the na ton will vote for and pay for
 There are just three countries that we take ac count figuring possible enemies They Germany Japan and Great Britain. The German navy is a little stronger than ours. The American people will proba by agree that we ought have navy little stronger than Germanys. And we can afford to build and main tain such a navy.
 We need not fear Japan alone with present ra Ho Of sea poac. and still less with he increased su perority that bigger navy than cermanys will give us We cant imagine France Italy Russia or Aus ra joining her to attack us. There remains only Great Britain
 And the British bugaboo is the absurd of all. We have got along with Great Britain amicaby a hun dred years though we have 5000 miles Of common iron tier We are bound now by stronger ties of in erest and sympathy than we been for l5o years The British labor element would probably revolt raths tbau help fight us. And there Canada aa a perma nent hostage If England attacked us by sea, We cou so easily and keep Canada the flower of her colon rs unproyokcd assault from that quarter is in conceivable except the most rabd and visionary An slophobe
 The war is said to be making the belligercnt naton more religious But you wouldn't know it from their ac uons,