The Washington herald., 1915-01-03
Fair Inquiry Nation S Need.

As the first of a series on 1.-The Def
ricncies in Our Navy and Army and
coast Defenses.'' Representative A. p.
Gardner. of MaSsa achusetts, yesterday
gave out a statement treating OF Condi-
tions in the navy He is gathering au-
thantic official informa ton for the other
articles. which will be issued at inter
yals of a week Mr.. Gardner's statement
follows:
&c The rule is jam tomorrow and jam
Yesterday. but never jam today said the
White Queen in Through the Looking
Glass
The White Queen did not happen to be
talking of the American navy, but she
might Just as well have been doing so.
Listen to the debates in Congress and
you will be convinced that the pages of
history furnish an impregnable defense
for this country. If John Paul Jones
could change a peaceful merchantmen
into the BOnhommc Richard and defeat
the British man-O'-war Scraps, why can
not the like be done again? What man
has done, man can dO-such is the bur-
den OF the song of the gentlemen who be-
liCve that American genius and American
freemen need no preparation for war. Is
any one such bastard as to deny that
our gallant naval militia admirals can
on any pleasant afternoon fOrsake their
counting houses for the quarterback and
smash the British super-DTeadnoughts to
Smithereens with a fleet of converted
Long Island Sound steamers? Perish the
thought.
Must start Air Corps Again,
But if YOU are so skeptical as to be
dubious lest the school history book and
the Chautauqua lecture may not be ade-
0uate to repeI the attacks of the effete
mOnarchies of Europe and Asia then
peruse the hearings for the last ten
years before the Congressional Commit
tee on Naval Affairs and you may be
COmfUrted.
"A more complete docket Of expert
ments about to be made and contracts
shortly to bC entered into and reports to
he ordered in the near future and boards
soon to be appointed cannot be found out
side the records of the CircumlOcution
uiTicc about which Dickens wrote.
The American airman, Wright, was the
first in the wide world to build an aero
plane which would actually fly, and ever
since that time We have been expert
menting and inspecting and reporting and
contracting and considering: in fact, we
have been doing everything except build
ing aerOplanes.
..On July 1 last France owned 1,4OO
aeroplanes while Uncle Sam owned %.
all OF them out of date. However, we
recently ordered from abroad an up-to-
date French aeroplane with two SalmsOn
motors and an up-to-date German aero
plane with two Mercedes motors. We
were in hopes that at last We were in
fair way to establish a little brood Of
aircraft: but just then the European war
broke out. Wicked foreigners comman-
dccred our purchases. so here we are
again just where we started.
Submarines Antiquated.
we have as many as twenty subma-
rines on the whole'Atlantic coast. To be
sure. no one has accused the outfit of
benE any too new-fangled; but then
pray remember We are still arguing about
the best type with which TO experiment.
Meanwhile the modest proportion Of nine
teen out of these aforementioned twenty
divers were not in diving trim when Com
mander Stirling gave his evidence before
the Naval Committee in December.
or the thirty-odd fast scout cruisers
which the general board of the navy tells
us We need for our safety. We have built
Just three: but they are laid up waiting
Tor crews with lungs strong enough to
make their furnaces draw in the teeth
Of a blooming gale. For about ten years
We have been considering and contem-
plating types for scouts. but before long
it is confidently expected that a satisfac-
tory conclusion will be reached.
admiral Strauss tells US that every
american battleship i'm commission today
is equipped with obsolete torpedoes, but
that orders have been given and plants
are being enlarged. and that IN two years
relief will be in sight.
DawdIe, DRwdIe, DawdIe.
so it gocs-dawdle. dawdle, dawdle all
along the line. from voter TO President.
The fact is that the whole navy has got
into a rut. 1t needs good, hard jolt to
get it out of the rut, and then It needs to
be trimmed up and enlarged until 1t is a
strong weapon, fit for the defense OF q
strong nation.
Now don't blame il all on poor old
Secretary Daniels It is only partly his
fault, even II he did deprive the sea dogs
OF their grog and enter the sailormen in
the lowest grade of the kindergarten.
"Of course, Daniels. with his super
peace ideas. ought not to be Secretary
of the Navy any more than n liquor
dealer ought TO be chairman of a tenn
pcrance rally. but that is a small matter
Neither is the blame to be imputed
10 the navy bureau chiefs. There has
lot been one of them for years who at
heart would not have been glad to speak
right out in meeting and tell the country
the whole truth as to our needs. But
the country has hitherto been in no lis
tening mood and il would have been a
bold bureau chief. indeed. who care to |
face the molten lava from the tongues
Of the little navy men. Let the Off |
Ger speak up and he was damned up |
and down as a seeker for increased rank !