The Washington herald., 1915-04-26
DANIELS CLAIMS
Navy IS BETTER
Letter to Garfield Decries
Gardner S Statement About
Unpreparedness.
MANY NEW SHIPS ADDED
Secretary States Department Is Re-
cruited to Its Full Strength-Adds
Aviation Bureau.
MANY NEW SHIPS ADDED

! Secretary of the Navy Daniels yester-
day made public lengthy review of his
two-years administration of the Navy De-
partment. defending the navy from the
charge. frequently made in the last eight
months. that it was not properly pre-
pared for war
The Secretarys statement is in the
| form Of a letter to Harry 4. Garfield.
President of Williams College. who wrote
Mr.. Daniels that he wished to he in
position to meet the statements of Rep
resentative Gardner of Massachusetts,
! alleging that the United States is at
present unprepared for military emer-
gencies.'
Epoch Making" Period.
! Mr.. Daniels declares that the last two
| years have been epoch making in the
navy. distinguished by more wise and
progressive naval legislation and more
practical achievement than any previous
like period, thanks chiefly to a patriotic
Congress. OF his critics he says:
Certain persons, ignorant of their ig-
norance. and for selfish. partisan rea-
sons, have busted themselves with mis-
representing the true condition of the
navy. thereby causing some good people
to fear that the navy is not now, as in
the past the strong. effective arm of the
republic. All who would learn the truth
may be assured that the navy in 1915 is
larger. better equipped and in better con-
dition than in any previous year. and
that the fleet is becoming more efficient
with every passing month
Mr.. Daniels compares what has been
done in his administration with what
was done in the last two years of Mr..
Meyers term under the Taft admins
tration. His defense deals more with
material and personnel than with mat
tiers of organization. which most of the
expert critics of the navy have de-
clared to be the chief cause of its I'M
preparedness for war. Rear Admiral
Bradley A. Fiske. aid for operations.
gave greatest currency to this idea in
his testimony before the House Naval
Committee. asserting that it would re-
quire five years to prepare the navy
for war.
Gain of Thirty-six ships.
Mr.. Daniels says:
There are now in active service.
fully commissioned 225 vessels of all
characters. which is thirty-six more
than were fully commissioned when I
became Secretary. There are also 1o1
vessels of various types. in reserve and
in ordinary and uncommissioned. capa-
BILE of rendering service in war We
have under construction and authorized
seventy-seven vessels. nine Dread
nouEhts, twenty-three destroyers,
thirty-eight submarines. and seven
auxiliaries. as compared with ffty-four
vessels. five Dreadnoughts. fourteen
destroyers, twenty-three submarine
three sunboats. and nine auxiliaries
which were under construction on
March l. 1913
"All the vessels enumerated are sup
piled with munitions of war. No navy
makes public the quantity of ammuni-
tion and torpedoes, mines and other
implements of naval warfare which it
keeps ready. 1t may be said. however.
that within the last two years the
quantity of all has been steadily and
greatly increased. For example. we
have increased the number of mines on
hand and in process of manufacture, by
244 per cent With reference to tor
pedoes. the increase in two years has
been 30 per cent. BY the enlargement
of the naval power factory we shall
soon be able almost to double it's for
mer capacity, and like enlargement of
the torpedo works and the equipment
of plant to construct mines will still
further increase. at decreased cost, the |
quantity of such stock and the possess |
sion of these plants in times of emer- |
gency will enable the department to |
be in better state of preparedness as
regards the supply of ammunition than |
ever before. IKtJ
Recruited to Full Strength.
Mr.. Daniels calls attention to the |
fact that the navy is now recruited |
up to its full strength, and that there .
are IL per cent more men on duty |
with il now than in March, 1918. He |
asserts that there is not an officer in |
the navy who could or would say that |
his ship is not good or its crew as
loyal and efficient two years ago.
With reference TO the charge that the |
keeping of the battleships in Mexican
waters impaired the efficiency of the
fleet. Mr.. Daniels declares that at
Vera Cruz the fleet got real expert
ence under virtually war conditions.
He call attention to the fact that after
years OF talk. actual advanced base
were held for the first time
in January. 1914.
Without referring to the fact that
the Democrats controlled the House
Of Representatives during the last two
years of the Taft administration, Mr.. |,
Da niels says:
During the last two years of the
Taft administration Congress author
lied the construction of two Dread
noughts. to cost about $4,000, 600 each
During the first two years of the Will
son administration. upon my recon-.
Congress authorized the
of five Dreadnoughts, to
son administration. in it's first two
years, authorized s70.00o.000 to be
spent on the chief fighting force Of