The Washington herald., 1915-01-03

aDd power. Let civilian speak up and
he was muckraked from stem to stern
as a miniOn of some armor plate con-
cern. Let an association or a league
speak up and its membership was grilled
to find out whether any one of them had
share of steel stock or copper stock
or any other kind of stock IN the fam
lily unto the third or fourth generation.
Neither is the blame TO be visited on
Congress. If any one of us talked about
national defenselessness. some one else
talked about jackasses in solons' garbs.
Nation Is Interested.
There is just one party who ought TO
bear the blame and that is the great
American public whose exact mirror we
Congressman are. Six months ago IL l
cared to empty u room all had to do was
to discuss our national defenselessness.
Today If l am anxious TO fill a hall, 1
have but TO say that our army and navy
will be my topic. Six months ago.
should have been a mighty poor poll
tcian il l had preached about our lack
of national defense. Today / should be
Ia mighty poor politician if 1 were to
drop the subject
IF l were a real hero, should promise
to keep up this crusade as long as the
Lord might grant me grace. Not being
a real hero. 1 content myself with a
promise to keep on shouting so long as
the press will grant me space
Dead Rule L. :. Bane,
One disease from which both our
army and navy are suffering is mort
main, especially mortmain of ideas.
Mortmain is an old English law term
which signified the rule of dead and
gone hand
I'VE ought m baya -
main treated by an impartial commits
sion of inquiry with some new blood
and no arterio sclerosis of the intellect
among the commissioners. What we
need is a definite plan for the future.
What sort of a plan for the national
defense can we get out of four diff
ferent full committees and four diff
ferent subcommittee of the House and
Senate?
Yet it was those committees to
which we were referred when a COM
mission of inquiry into our defenseless-
ness was refused us by the admihistra-
tion. Moreover, it doesn't do to forget
that those committees, so far as the
experienced members are concerned,
are practically invited to inspect the
results of their own handiwork
Let us see how the inspection is
faring. Just how far have they gone
with this investigation? Both the
House Committee on Military Affairs
and the House Committee on Naval Af-
fairs have now closed their hearings.
Both committees confined themselves
almost entirely to the examination of
the gray boards Of the service-and
to the gray boards of the committees
selection, at that. My requests for the
summons of Admiral Wainwright, Ad-
miral Winslow, Admiral Brownson,
Gen. Wood. and Gen. Witherspoon were
absolutely and peremptorily refused.
a commission of inquiry such as I
advocated. would summon not only bu-
reau chiefs in all their panoply. but
the hardwOrked juniors and the experi-
enced enlisted men as well. 4 commission
Of inquiry would allow the complainant
to produce witnesses, a privilege which
has been denied me by the committees
to which l was referred.
ships Out of CommisSfon.
Assistant Secretary Roosevelt and Ad-
miral Badger have testified that we are
now 1900 men short of the number re-
quired to man the serviceable part OF
our present feet. This estimate takes
no account of the crews requisite for
vessels now building. The general board
Of the navy maintains that in case Of
war, We should need from 10000 to 80
600 additional trained men and there
is no source Of supply except about SOoO
naval militiamen
''On the other hand, Admiral Blue has
testified that We are only 1855 men short
in case Of war and that there is little
doubt that this demand would be met
by eX-service men now in civil life.
ITO this Admiral Fiske replies that il
would take five years to get our navy
up to a state of efficiency necessary
to fight first-class enemy.
Let US see what all this Juggling
and counter-juggIing of figures mean.
Does it mean that these admirals differ
as TO the number of men needed to man
any particular vessel? Not a bit of it.
1t means that they differ as to how many
vessels We need and how many vessels
we have which are worth manning. The