Semi-weekly herald. [volume] (Durango, Colo.) 1907-1917, 1915-12-09

the number of men which must be nut
in training to man the ships which
will be completed early in 1918. Ii
is also necessary that the number of
midshipmen at the naval academy at
Annapolis should be increased by at
least three hundred in order that the
force of officers should be more rap
idly added to; the authority is asked
TO APPOINT for engineering duties only.
approved graduates OF engineering
colleges, and for service in the avia-
ton corps a certain number of mes
aiken from civil life.
II this full program should be car.
ried out we should have built or
building in 1921, according to the es.
Inmates of survival and standards of
classification followed by the general
board of the department, an effec-
tive navy consisting Of twenty-seven
battleships, of the first line, six bat
lie cruisers, twenty-five battle ships
Of the second line, ten armored
cruisers, thirteen scout cruisers, five
first class cruisers, three second class
cruisers, ten third class crdisers, one
hundred and eight destroyers, eighteen
fleet submarines, one hundred and
| fifty-seven coast submarines, six mon
itors, twenty gunboats, four suppl;
oiilpCs 1llttGh 4hti 1ilipAy lpuI trans
ports, three tenders two torpedo boats
eight vessels OF special types, and
two ammunition ships. This would
be a navy fitted to our needs and
worthy of our traditions.
But armies and instruments of wal
are only part of what has to be con
sidered if we are to consider the su-
preme matter of national self-suffi-
cheney and security in all its aspects
| There are other great matters which
wi be thrust upon our attention
whether we will or not. There is,
for example, a very pressing question
of trade and shipping involved in this
great problem of national adequacy.
1t is necessary for many weighty rea-
sons OF national efficiency and .devel-
| 0pment that we should have a great
merchant marine The great mer-
| chant fleet we once used to make us
rich, that great body OF sturdy sailors
| VINO used TO carry cur flag into every
sea. and who were the pride and often
| the bulWark of the nation, We have
almost driven out of existence by in
| eXcusable neglect and indifference and
| oy a hopelessly blind and provincial
policy Of so-called economic protec-
ion. 1t is hight time we repaired our
lmistake and resumed our commercial
independence on the seas.
For it is a question of independence.
Il other nations go to war or seek to
hamper each others commerce, our
merchants, it seems, are at their mer-
Y, to do as they please. We must
use their ships and use them as they
determine. We have not ships enough
of our own. We cannot handle our
| own commerce on the seas. Our in
| dependence is provincial, and is only
IN land and within our own borders.
We are not likely TO be permitted
20 use even the ships OF other nations
m rivalry of their own trade, and
are without means to extend our COM
nerce even where the doors are wide
| open and our goods desired. Such
4 situation is not to be endured. 1t
S of capital Importance not only that
the United States should be its own
carrier on the seas and enjoy the eco
nomic independence which only an
adequate merchant marine would give
II. but also that the American hemis-
phere as Il whole should enjoy a like
independence and self-sufficiency, if it
Is not to be drawn into the tangle of
European affairs. Without such indie
pendence the whole question of our
political unity and self-determinatiOn
is very seriously clouded and COM
plicated indeed.
Moreover, we can develop no true or
elective American policy without
ships of our own-not ships of war
but ships of peace, carrying goods and
carrying much more; creating friend
ships and rendering Indispensable SER
vices to all interests on this side of
the water. They must move con-
81, i